Bolton moved out of the relegation zone as Nicolas Anelka’s early goal beat Manchester United to earn Gary Megson a first win as Wanderers manager in amazing fashion.
Bolton did well to make the most of a bad referee, who was clearly keen to prove Jose Mourinho’s point that refs are biased towards United. Patrice Evra should have seen red, or at least yellow, when he kicked Kevin Davies off the ball, but Davies was booked just a couple of minutes later for a foul on Evra, and was lucky to stay on the pitch after a fierce battle with the Frenchman throughout the game. Ferguson was sent to the stand for the second half after arguing with Clattenburg down the tunnel at half time.
The biggest attendance at the Reebok since the opening match of this season were on their feet after just 11 minutes, when Nicolas Anelka collected Ivan Campo’s free kick, won by the outstanding Guthrie, and powered the ball past Edwin Van Der Sar for his 7th league goal of the season, which brings him up to joint second in the Premier League top scorers list.
Bolton managed to hang on until the break without much trouble, but in the second half United were clearly on top. Jaaskelainen was forced into a good save from Owen Hargreaves’ free kick on 55 minutes, before Carlos Tevez sliced the ball wide from less than a yard from the Wanderers goal.
Bolton did do a bit of timewasting, Gary Speed letting the ball roll through his legs from a ball boy while waiting to take a throw in, but none of the Bolton fans could believe the 4 minutes held up by the fourth official. Another Hargreaves free kick went just over the crossbar, but Bolton managed to hold on to claim only their second victory of the season. We all celebrated at the final whistle as if it was a cup final, but it did mean a lot, not only as Megson’s first win, but also the game which lifted us up to 15th, and could be our turning point.
It’s Bolton’s second victory not my first. They worked hard for the football club and themselves.
It was a terrific performance in terms of work-rate, desire and drive.
It’s really good result for us, given the other results around the division. We have an awful lot going for us and I have no qualms in saying we will get out of this position.
- Gary Megson
