Postmatch Report – Home to Fulham
Bolton Wanderers 2 – 1 Fulham
Ground: Reebok Stadium | Attendance: 23,104 | Referee: Phil Dowd
- [22] Helguson – Fulham
- [45] Helguson (og) – Bolton
- [68] Nolan – Bolton
After midweek deep disappointment after being knocked out of The UEFA Cup Bolton Wanderers needed to restore confidence and morale and Sammy Lee’s post match comment, “this isn’t the end of the journey, this is the start,” showed signs of optimism that were eventually displayed on to the pitch this afternoon.
Strangely Fulham had to make a change before the game had even started having lost Antti Niemi to an injury picked up during his warm-up – he was replaced Warner.
It looked to be going wrong for The Wanderers as Fulham striker Helguson managed a powerful volleyed shot that hit the crossbar in the 2nd minute after a great chipped pass from Radzinski. The visitors continued to unsettle The Trotters and eventually, perhaps inevitably, went ahead halfway through the first half with Heidar Helguson heading Simon Elliot’s free-kick.
Nolan got the ball in the back of the Fulham net soon after the restart but he was just offside. More heart-stopping moments followed when Abdoulaye Faye nearly got an own goal when he deflected Luis Boa Morte’s pass across the face of goal.
Bolton did not seem to be as confident in the first half and were not able to convert their creative moments into an equaliser. However, just before referee Dowd blew for the break when Bolton pressured Fulham down the right side and Bruno N’Gotty’s headed attempt was parried by Tony Warner to Helguson who scored again in an attempt to clear the ball from his own goalmouth. (That’s how to get an own goal Faye.)
The blunder gave Bolton the much needed equaliser which in turn gave them the buoyancy to bounce back in the second half. Bolton were more committed in the second half and put all memories of UEFA Cup dreams aside to do their best in order to continue their unbeaten run of 7 matches in The Premiership.
A single point was exchanged for three when Nolan managed to skilfully shake off a few light tackles deep into the Fulham penalty area and put the ball through Warner’s legs from such an acute angle which seemed impossible to score from. A great goal taking Bolton ahead in the 68th minute.
With over 20 minutes to play Bolton were pressured into defending their lead rather than extending it. Jussi Jaaskelainen once again proved to be Bolton’s saviour when forced to make a number of great saves. There were more chances for Fulham to equalise but their confidence in the last third dwindled as the time ticked towards the end of the game – they never seemed to ‘get over’ the own goal incident whereas The Wanderers certainly got over Ben Haim’s at the Stade Velodrome to produce an important win that took them back up to 6th in The Prem.
Postmatch comments from Sam Allardyce:
“I challenged the players after Thursday to hit back with a win. The lads were magnificent and showed great character after that defeat.
“We have to set our goals high and challenge every player to deliver a performance that would get us a win.
“The lads have done that now and we can build on this in the next few weeks.”
Fulham manager Chris Coleman:
“We were disappointed coming in at half time at 1-1 as we felt that we should have held the lead on the chances we created.
“In fact, we should have been further ahead going into the break.
“For the first 45 minutes we were the better side but we didn’t capitalise on the chances we created and when Bolton got the equaliser they troubled us.”
