It took a stoppage time winner from substitute Stelios to decide a match which neither team deserved to get anything out of. Just six minutes after being brought on for Nolan, who had an awful performance, he latched on to Jaaskelainen’s long kick and looped the ball over the Derby goalkeeper to earn Bolton their 4th straight home win.
Derby started surprisingly well, and could have taken the lead just two minutes into the game when Craig Fagan got the better of Meite, but his shot was blocked by Jaaskelainen for a corner. Not long after Meite got a chance for himself, but sent his header wide from Diouf’s corner.
The game was pretty empty until the last ten minutes of the half, when Derby had a spell of pressure that should have resulted in them taking the lead. First Fagan had a free header from a corner which was well tipped over by Jussi, then Michael Johnson left the Bolton defense watching as he curled a shot spectacularly onto the bar from 25 yards. Then Fagan sent another close range header into the side netting, which the Derby fans initially thought was in the net, but continued celebrating even after they realised it was just a goal kick.
Christian Wilhelmsson was brought on for Kevin Davies at half time, as the temperature grew colder, and the Swede’s pace started to bring chances for Bolton, including one scintillating run from just outside his own box to inside the Derby box, but couldn’t find Anelka and the ball was cleared. Soon Bolton increased the pressure, and Meite had another header cleared off the line before Guthrie smashed a chance over the bar from just 10 yards.
Then Diouf had a goal correctly ruled out for offside and Anelka had a long range shot tipped onto the bar, before Nolan topped off his awful performance with an unbelievable miss from just a couple of yards out. Stelios was brought on in Nolan’s place minutes later, and the change paid off when he clipped Jaaskelainen’s clearance over the onrushing Price before heading the ball into the empty net.
It should have been simple for Bolton to have kept the ball after that, but Derby nearly equalised through Kenny Miller in the final seconds of the game, but Jaaskelainen was alive to the threat and got down smartly to deny Derby an undeserved point, but to guarantee Bolton an even more undeserved three points.
We didn’t pass it, we didn’t support the ball, I cannot say that we fully justified the victory.
It’s a great reward for us playing as badly as we did. We didn’t do enough to suggest we could win but we kept going.
If I was the Derby manager, I’d be saying that was a bit unjust. But we’re told they even themselves out.
- Gary Megson
Once again, sorry there will be no highlights of this game.
UPDATE: Jon has the goal up on his site - click below to see it.
