Away to Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic 2 – 0 Bolton Wanderers
Ground: The Valley | Attendance: 23,638 | Referee: Mike Dean
- [58] Diouf (penalty miss) – Bolton
- [65] Bent (penalty) – Charlton
- [85] Bent – Charlton
From Victory to Stone
The Skids (remember them?) did a song called ‘Into The Valley’ from which the above lyric comes. This line seems apt as Bolton have once again failed to capitalise on the gift of a penalty. Last time is was the schoolboy error by Faye that allowed Fulham to equalise from the penalty spot after Diouf scored from the spot at the other end.
Having gone down to 10 men following Hermann Hreidarsson’s sending off for knocking Kevin Davies with raised elbows when going up for the ball Bolton should have been able to pester the home side enough to get their first away win of the season.
El-Hadji Diouf was gifted another goal scoring opportunity when he was allegedly brought down in the penalty area by the last defender Amady faye (who should have been sent off according to the rules of the game). Diouf failed to take The Wanderers ahead with a spectacularly unimpressive shot from the spot which was easily saved by Scott Carson.
Charlton battled on with a man down and when Tal Ben Haim tugged at Bent’s shirt another penalty was awarded allowing Darren Bent to put Athletic ahead with a well struck penalty.
Was this against all odds? Perhaps not, it would seem that having a man sent off bolsters the remaining players’ determination to do well, to get ahead and indeed this was the case for the home team.
However when Bolton’s Kevin Davies received a red card for a similar foul (flailing elbows) on Amady Faye the rest of the team just seemed to fall apart and Charlton’s determination rose once more.
Darren Bent scored a second for the home team in a game that Bolton should have scored first. I was a good goal too, with a precise flick from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink that enabled Bent to strike the ball cleanly past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
No matter how dramatic Diouf fall was in full contrast to the slightest of touches (if any) that Charlton defender Faye [ahem] inflicted he really should score from the spot. Perhaps Diouf felt guilty and made his shot easy to save.
Charlton proved that 10 men can cope against a full team. When Davies was sent off too the final score looked inevitable.
Bolton still seek their first away win, perhaps next time out the squad can reflect upon the likely victories that have turned to stone and fight to the end to gain the three points on offer.
Indepth reports available from BBC Sport and Soccernet.
