Bolton vs Birmingham City Match Preview
Bolton took three points from West Ham last week with a 1-3 victory away at Upton Park. Bolton’s Johan Elmander had two goals to seal the deal for the Trotters, while a Matthew Upson own-goal aided the Trotters’ cause.
Midweek Bolton guaranteed themselves passage to the 3rd Round of the Carling Cup with a 0-1 away victory over Southampton thanks to goal by Ivan Klasnic.
Speculation is that the arrival of Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov has left no room for Matthew Taylor. Manager Owen Coyle, however, denies this, stating that Taylor still has a “huge role” in the Bolton squad. West Ham are said to be interested in Taylor.
Birmingham may not have been the best team on the pitch in their first two Premier League matches of the season, but the manager Alex McLeish can certainly rejoice that his team has shown resilience enough to collect four points from two matches that they looked likely to lose.
McLeish has been trying to bolster his squad by landing Wigan striker Charles N’Zogbia, but his attempts have been unsuccessful so far, and have simply drawn criticism from Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, who claims that Birmingham’s latest offer is less than what they offered in the off season.
Meanwhile Birmingham beat Rochdale 3-2 in Carling Cup action midweek with new transfer Matt Derbyshire getting a goal.
Bolton vs Birmingham City Match Report
Birmingham’s Roger Johnson got his team out to an early lead when he scored in the fourth minute.
Bolton’s Swedish striker Johan Elmander nearly equalized two minutes later but he shot wide.
Craig Gardner doubled Birmingham’s lead in the 50th. By that time, however, Bolton had been reduced to 10 men, following Jussi Jaaskelainen’s sending off in the 36th minute for a slap on Johnson.
Kevin Davies got 10-man Bolton back into the match in the 71st minute when he struck a sublime penalty kick to the top right of the Birmingham goal to reduce Birmingham’s lead to 1-2.
The penalty was a soft one at best and was awarded when Davies went rather easily to ground under the pressure of Roger Johnson while both men contested a high ball.
It was poetic justice in a sense, however, since the ref had given nothing moments earlier when Gretar Steinsson had been the recipient of an unfair and unwelcome rugby tackle in the box by Lee Bowyer.
Bolton drew even in the 81st minute with a Robbie Blake free kick that had been awarded for a dubious foul on Gary Cahill.
Cameron Jerome should have done better when he ran onto a through ball from Bowyer in the first minute of stoppage time and had just substitute keeper Adam Bogdan to beat. The keeper did well to get a foot on Jerome’s effort but it really should have been the winner for Birmingham.
The two sides share the points and both are undefeated in the EPL this season so far,…but whereas the home side left the field after the match delighted with the outcome, the visitors went away disappointed that they had squandered points.
