Premier League: Bolton v Tottenham full time report
Bolton 4 Tottenham 2
Kevin Davies scored twice for Bolton as they beat Tottenham in a thrilling game at the Reebok stadium.
Bolton deserved to win the game as they created the better chances, going three goals up, but Tottenham put on a mini-fightback to keep Bolton nerves jangling at the end.
Davies gave Bolton the lead on the half hour mark after being put through by Matt Taylor. It was a great finish from the striker, but when he received the pass he was in an offside position, and the goal shouldn’t have stood.
Grétar Steinsson doubled the lead for Bolton on 56 minutes after hitting his shot from inside the penalty area into the corner of the net to give Tottenham ‘keeper Heurelho Gomes no chance.
Davies scored his second goal of the game from the penalty spot after Benoit Assou-Ekotto had fouled Lee Chung-Yong on 74 minutes. The penalty was conceded by a very shaky Tottenham defence, who all game were making mistakes.
Alan Hutton scored a beautiful goal ten minutes from time for Tottenham with their first real effort on target. The Scotland international found himself on the edge of the box, and decided to cut in on his left foot and curl the ball into the top corner.
Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a fantastic goal four minutes from time with a superb volley to get Tottenham back into the game to set up a grandstand finish.
Tottenham’s efforts didn’t count for nothing at the end, as Martin Petrov came off the bench to finish the game off deep into stoppage time.
Tottenham battered Inter Milan in midweek in the Champions League, with Gareth Bale running the show, but it looked as though they were feeling jaded from their efforts as they failed to cause problems for Bolton ‘keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
It was Bolton who began the first half well, and within seconds of the kick off, they could have been a goal up through Taylor, who ran from deep to collect the ball and get into the penalty area, but his effort went high over the bar.
Bale was being kept quiet by Steinsson down the Tottenham left hand side, and while Bale wasn’t getting into the game, it was Tottenham captain Luka Modrić who was looking bright, picking up the ball from deep positions and looking to link up the play. On 12 minutes, he made a good run into the box to pick out Sandro, whose shot didn’t hit the target.
Taylor again popped up with another shot, and it was the first shot on target in the game, but it was straight at Tottenham ‘keeper Gomes. The Spurs ‘keeper was being made to work hard, and he had to deal with Steinsson’s cross played with the outside of his foot when delivered into the box to stop Johan Elmander from scoring a tap-in.
Tottenham were made to pay for their sloppiness, with Davies scoring the only goal of the first half. Fabrice Muamba tackled Wilson Palacios, with the ball coming through to Taylor, and it was he who put Davies in, although he was clearly in an offside position when he received the ball. It was a neat left-footed finish from the Bolton captain, but the flag should have gone up from the linesman.
Tottenham reacted to going a goal down, and Bale got into his stride eight minutes before half time, producing a similar run and ball that undone Inter in the Champions League to find Peter Crouch, but he couldn’t get his long legs onto the end of the pass.
Bale at the start of the second half hit the bar from a well-hit free kick, which left Jaaskelainen rooted to the spot.
Bolton twice in the space of a minute could have doubled their lead. First, Elmander was denied by Gomes from close range, and then Gary Cahill produced a wonderful volley which just whistled wide of the post.
The pressure was beginning to tell, and it resulted in the second goal of the game through Steinsson, who fired his shot across Gomes and into the bottom of the corner. From a full back, it was the finish of an accomplished striker would have been proud of.
Tottenham had a great opportunity to get back into the game, and if Sandro has used his head rather than his foot, he would have scored after a superb cross from Hutton from the right.
Taylor was desperate to score a goal, and on 73 minutes he watched and waited for the ball to come down to hit the volley first time, but he hit the post. It was a great effort from Taylor, who kept on going all game.
Bolton were awarded a penalty, as more sloppy pay from Tottenham resulted in Assou-Ekotto fouling Lee in the box. Davies stepped up to tuck the penalty away and pile more misery on Tottenham.
Tottenham finally had an effort on target, and it came through Hutton’s spectacular goal when he curled the ball with his weaker left foot out of the reach of Jaaskelainen.
Pavlyuchenko gave Tottenham a lifeline at the end of the game, coming on as a substitute and scoring a tremendous goal, showing great technique to smash the volley.
Petrov was looking to seal the game for Bolton, and he wanted to match Pavlyuchenko’s effort with his own volley, but it went into the side-netting. However, the Bulgarian did get his goal, running onto the superb Davies’ pass to finish the game off and kill Tottenham’s hopes of pinching a point.
Tottenham on the balance of play didn’t deserve to get anything from the game, and Bolton were well worth the win this afternoon and now go above Spurs in the Premier League table.
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