Ground: The Reebok Stadium | Attendance: 27,229 | Referee: Rob Styles
Disappointed is an understatement…
Too depressed to write…
For a full match report try Soccernet.
Ground: The Valley | Attendance: 10,788 | Referee: Dermot Gallagher
There seemed to be an air of anticipation for this cup match amongst Bolton fans. Most fan I talked to anticipated a loss and none seemed too bothered if The Whites did loose.
This was fortunate as The Whites did loose courtesy of Darren Bent’s goal aided by a great ball in by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
A full match report is available at Soccernet.
Ground: Ewood Park | Attendance: 27,662 | Referee: Mike Dean
“We were not at our best but
we have got away with it.”
Ivan Campo took The Trotters ahead shortly after half-time while Bolton’s Jussi Jaaskelainen becoming the match hero after saving two penalties in the last couple of minutes of the game.
Campo scored with ease with the help of a superb El-Hadji Diouf corner kick which picked out the unmarked midfielder.
The first of the two penalties looked questionable as substitute Jason Roberts decided to take a spectacular tumble after Quinton Fortune’s hard but fair tackle.
Justice was served with all the trimmings of excellence when Bolton’s Jussi blocked Benni McCarthy’s. The Finn found himself at the mercy of another penalty when Roberts fell again just moments later.
Referee Mike Dean seemed more certain this time as Roberts found Nicky Hunt and Gary Speed blocking his pathway to goal. Captain Kevin Nolan protested profusely and argued with the referee from the Wirral (Tranmere fan?) only to find himself being sent of in the last minute of normal time, booked.
Nonetheless, Jaaskelainen managed to block the second penalty kick, this time taken by tumbling Roberts.
Perhaps Blackburn should have won as they performed better overall on the night and took more shots (27 in all) – but they failed to pick up Ivan Campo in the box, allowing him to head the winning goal. As for Jussi’s performance, remarkable and heroic are two words that spring to mind.
Bolton boss, Sam Allardyce, gave the Wanderers’ ball-stopper well deserved high praise but seemed to forget about Ivan!
“His performances this year have been better than ever before but none more so than today.
“The goalkeeper has made a hero of himself by saving two penalties and got us three crucial points. He has to pull all the stops out and made life very sweet for us.”
Sam also admitted:
“We were not at our best but we have got away with it.
“It is our resilience and our strive to be successful that keeps us going.
“I have never had a last five minutes like that. It was quite bizarre but we move onwards and upwards.”
If the result and saves were not satisfying enough Bolton had put an end to their local rivals unbeaten run of 8 games.
We have been approached by the Head of Production at Big Umbrella Media, Sarah Greene, to ask if readers of BWFC24 if they would like to be on the telly. Here is what she had to say:
We’re a TV production company who have been commissioned by a major UK broadcaster to pilot a new football project and we’re looking for contributors. TV production company looking for die-hard, devoted fans to contribute to a new tv project.
You must be opinionated, articulate and passionate about the game and a life-long supporter of your club. Preferably stats won’t be the only thing you have to offer… We need to know about you too…
Q: what’s more important – your marriage or your club?
Q: how available are you over the next 4 wks?
Q: do you want your 15 mins of fame?
Q: Interested?If you are interested, you need to be able to sell yourself to us in no more than one paragraph – if you can do it in a sentence so much the better. Feel free to attach photos, audio files, mpegs, etc….
Contact: fan@bigumbrellamedia.co.uk
Thanks for this it would be great to get Bolton onto the pilot.
Sarah
Good luck if you get involved and let BWFC24 know about your progress.
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