Manchester United 2 — 1 Bolton
Zat Knight Not a Beach Ball
- Saturday, October 17, 2009
- Venue: Old Trafford
- Attendance: 75,103
- Referee: Mark Clattenburg
- Zat Knight (og) [5]
- Antonio Valencia [33]
- Kevin Davies [48]
- Matthew Taylor [75]
An unfortunate start for Bolton’s trip to Old Trafford saw The Wanderers chasing for the rest of the afternoon.
Zat Knight deflected a rare Michael Owen header past Jussi Jaaskelainen to take United ahead after just five minutes. Zat Knight cannot be blamed really. If Owen’s header was on target then maybe Jussi would have had it covered, but it wasn’t and somehow Knight unknowingly put the ball in his own net. Nonetheless Bolton were loosing and seemed powerless to cope with frequent runs made by the likes of Patrice Evra and Ryan Giggs.
Kevin Davies had a two clear chances to bring the scores level before United got their second. The most notable was a clear header created by rising above Rio Ferdinand to receive Sam Ricketts’ long pass. With only Van der Sar to beat Kevin Davies’ attempt failed to cause concern for the Dutch goalkeeper as it sailed wide. It should be noted that it was better than Owen’s headed effort but sadly there wasn’t a defender to fluke an equaliser.
Man United’s second was inevitable as Bolton’s midfield struggled with the home side’s frequent forays. A neat one–two between Antonio Valencia and Gary Neville set up the Ecuadorian who powered the ball past Jaaskelainen.
Further shots by Kevin Davies and Matt Taylor were also wide leaving Van der Sar little to do in the first half. Bolton’s keeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, was kept busy and often had to make great saves, the best of which came in the second half and kept Berbatov’s spectacular close range volley out of the net.
With twenty minutes to go Bolton were slowly improving and began to string a few passes together.
Substitute Mark Davies (on for Cohen) made a terrific run from midway inside his own half to the edge of Manchester United’s penalty area, where he passed wide to his left to his Kevin Davies. Kevin crossed the ball low, only to have it rebound back off Neville. Kevin’s second cross was somewhat higher and Matt Taylor rose high above Evra to nod in with precision giving the visitors hope.
Bolton were fired up by Taylor’s goal and created chances but could not finish. Ivan Klasnic combined with Kevin Davies and fired just wide from outside the penalty area. A searching cross by Sam Ricketts was just too high, even for a leaping Zat Knight whose header went just over the bar.
Gary Cahill had Bolton’s last touch of the match and was unlucky to only header the ball into the arms of Edwin Van der Sar. Bolton battled well after a disheartening first half in which the midfield failed to close down United’s attacks quickly leaving the back four and Jussi with a perhaps too much to deal with. Although Bolton did get back into the game towards the end of the match The Reds defended their narrow lead and a lack of precision finishing prevented Bolton leaving Old Trafford with a share of the points.
Official BWFC Website — Match Report
