Owen Coyle will never be able to forget the amount of abuse thrown his way since he left Burnley to join Bolton, but to his credit he seemed not affected by all that and carried on his job as a pure professional.
And his decision also made sue that he applied his managerial skills in the top flight, and has also given hope to the Bolton faithful that there is hope for them and the next season may yet bring better things to the Reebok stadium. This season they have finished 14th, but their points tally is one less then what they had when they were sent down the 2nd tier back in 1998.
Their performance on the final day was a sign of things to come should Coyle remain in charge of Wanderers, the first one was an old school goal, from a technique which Bolton has made famous since Allardyce revitalized Bolton’s style of football, as Kevin Davie beat his Marker and headed in from Paul Robinson’s free kick.
The away side came close to equalizing in the 52nd minute, as Roger Johnson was free in the area, but out the shot straight and Jakelainen reacted well to knock it around the post.
While the 2nd goal was proof of the style of play Coyle has employed at the Reebok stadium, Valdimir Weiss who is currently on loan from Manchester City found himself in the box hounded by 3 defenders but still managed to find Ivan Klasnic who took a first time shot to give Birmingham keeper Joe Hart absolutely no chance, which forced the crowd to shout out loud to Coyle to give Weiss a permanent contract.
Birmingham started their comeback in to top flight football, and were touted as many to go down again at the end of the season may believe they have done enough to silence their critics, and Joe hart was at the centre of praises by the away side, who by far has been their player of the season so far, and a defeat in the final game did little to dampen their spirits as they were already in celebratory mood.
Birmingham finished the league in the highest position since 1959 and if it was not for the referee to disallow James McFadden’s goal in the first half it could have been a different story for them in the final game, as the official judged the goal as a handed effort by the Scott, who understandably was frustrated by did not lose heart as he did get his name on the score sheet finding himself in the right place on a rebound Jasekelainen, as he saved a penalty from Christian Benitez. The deflection first went to Lee bowyer, and even though the Finn goalkeeper had saved the 2nd shot McFadden managed to put the ball home for a consolation goal.
Birmingham though did try all the could to get the 2nd and level the game, which left holes in midfield for Bolton to exploit , and the home side almost got a 3rd through Klasnic but he put his shot wide as the score remained 2-1.
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