Postmatch Report – Away to Newcastle
Newcastle United 3 – 1 Bolton Wanderers
Ground: St. James’ Park | Attendance: 52,012 | Referee: Alan Wiley
- [34] Solano – Newcastle
- [45] Shearer – Newcastle
- [70] Ameobi – Newcastle
- [80] Davies – Bolton
Jaidi and Speed both went close early in the match after Newcastle opened with continued pressure forcing five early corners from which the Magpies failed to create any decent opportunities to score.
Belozoglu Emre took a fine shot midway in the first half which found the upright giving The Wanderers a warning that Newcastle were keen to gain points. Shortly after Kevin Nolan took his first real shot of the game from the edge of the area but former Wanderer Robbie Elliot managed a glancing header sending the ball against the post.
With almost half an hour played Radhi Jaidi went close again with a shot from the edge of the box.
Abdoulaye Faye fouled Ameobi giving away a free-kick about 20 yards out. Nolberto Solano stepped to take the kick while Jussi Jaaskenlainen seemed to dance in the goalmouth. Solano’s shot swung over Bolton’s wall and dipped enough to reach the bottom right corner giving Jussi very little hope to make a save.
After their goal Newcastle recaptured their early confidence which had been subdued by good defensive play
A typical header from Shearer took Newcastle ahead by two just before half time. A neat cross from the left by Charles N’Zogbia found Shearer on the right whose header reversed the ball’s direction back towards the left post. It looked like Jaaskenlainen had made a spectacular save but he had not absorbed enough power and was unlucky not to have made the save.
The half-time score of 2-0 did not reflect the fact that Bolton had had just as many shots at the Newcastle goal as the locals had – neither team had many shots that were actually on target.
Henrik Pedersen on to replace Hidetoshi Nakata who failed to impress in the first half.
Newcastle’s back four worked well together as a unit to quash Bolton’s advances, by keeping their line and making sure there were no gaps for Nolan or Davies to receive a through ball.
Shearer had another attempt at goal but has his shot blocked by Jaidi but Newcastle continued to pressure Bolton’s defenders allowing Belozoglu to go close to adding a third, a task which was left to Shola Ameobi seconds later from the edge of the penalty area.
Two minutes later Davies headed a consolation goal for The Wanderers with Radhi Jaidi acting as provider with a headed shot that was guided in by Davies. A goal at last for the Bolton ‘striker’ who has failed to score so many times during this season gets his first goal in sixteen appearances.
Vaz Te and Pedersen both went close as time ran ever closer to full-time as did Davies.
Kevin Nolan found the net but had his goal disallowed for handball – no argument, it was well spotted by referee Wiley.
Bolton made the Toon Army slightly nervous as The Trotters pressed for goals. Ricardo Vaz Te had a last minute shot that whizzed past the left post. A late free-kick deep into Newcastle’s half (almost a corner) taken by Abdoulaye Faye was Bolton’s last change to gain a more respectable scoreline, but it wasn’t to be as the match was ended as the ball floated into the box.
Bolton loose at St. James’ Park once again taking The Magpies total to 6 wins out of 7 games in Premiership competition (the remainder being a draw).
Bolton drop down to 8th in the Premiership after Arsenal beat Fulham conformably at Craven Cottage. Unfortunately we have to thank Everton for equalising against West Ham at Upton Park which only allowed The Hammers to catch up with Bolton on points. Bolton’s goal difference just manages to keep them above the London club.
A disappointed Bolton boss, Sam Allardyce told the BBC, “we never started playing today until we were three nil down.”
