Zat Knight to the rescue as victorious Bolton end their goal drought

Posted Sunday, February 28, 2010 by theguardian.com

Zat Knight to the rescue as victorious Bolton end their goal drought
Zat Knight gives Bolton the lead against Wolves despite the efforts of Kevin Doyle on the goalline.

Zat Knight was the unlikely quencher of Bolton's drought as his first – and arguably Bolton's most important – goal of the season ended a 550-minute scoreless spell for one of the two relegation-threatened Wanderers. Both remain embroiled in a fight for survival but Knight's neat finish averted an unwanted record of six consecutive top-flight blanks.

When Gary Megson was dismissed two months ago this week, Bolton were third from bottom, the same position they occupied at kick-off. So the sense of relief, both for his successor Owen Coyle and three sides of the Reebok Stadium, at Knight's decisive moment was tangible.

"We all recognised that this was the proverbial six-pointer," said Coyle, whose team leapfrogged Wolves in the table. "The performance was of a high standard and it was a real cut-and-thrust Premier League game that both teams wanted to win."

To do so, Coyle made six alterations to the side that crashed out of the FA Cup at Tottenham in midweek. Of those who retained their places, the United States international Stuart Holden – Scottish-born, Texas-raised – was handed his Premier League debut. His performance alongside that of the equally impressive Fabrice Muamba stood out while the teenager Jack Wilshere, borrowed from Arsenal for the rest of the campaign, was full of energy on the left of a new-look midfield.

There were certainly plenty of chances created by a midfield quartet completed by Lee Chung-yong and the hosts would have been in front earlier but for Johan Elmander's crisis of confidence in front of goal. The Swedish striker, surprisingly preferred to Bolton's leading marksman Ivan Klasnic, sent a trio of indecisive efforts goalwards as Bolton sought to end their barren spell: a 16th-minute effort, after an intricate exchange on the edge of the area with Kevin Davies and Lee, lacked power; a snap shot was beaten away by Hahnemann and the best chance of the lot was blocked by the Wolves captain Jody Craddock.

The Midlanders' own lack of productivity in front of goal – their total of 21 at kick-off making them the Premier League's joint-lowest scorers – was highlighted by a lack of penetration in the first half. And, after Craddock's flicked near-post header forced Jussi Jaaskelainen into his first save of the contest, they were undone at the other end.

Retrieving an overhit corner on the left flank, Lee skipped past Adlène Guedioura's mediocre challenge and tightrope-walked the byline before sliding back across the six-yard box, from where centre-back Knight guided the ball into the far corner. "The goal that we conceded wasn't bad luck, it was bad defending," said the Wolves manager Mick McCarthy. "I am not bemoaning my luck because if I wasn't lucky I wouldn't be in the Premier League."

Having spent so long in search of an elusive first, Bolton wasted no time in pursuing a second. Davies's prod forward immediately after the restart led to penalty claims for a handball against Ronald Zubar and the Bolton captain side-footed meekly when presented with a shooting opportunity seconds later.

Bolton may have been on the wrong side of narrow margins during their recent barren spell but Wolves will consider themselves unfortunate not to have equalised. Twice Mick McCarthy's team struck the inside of the goalframe in the second period: first David Jones's clipped 25-yard free-kick hit a post before squirming its way along the goalline, then Kevin Foley's improvised volley flashed through a crowd of bodies and hit the base of the other upright.

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

AARON HALEY Observer reader

I'm absolutely delighted. It was a must-win game and I am really relieved we have ended our bad run. We rode our luck at times but I think we deserved the victory, we had an attacking line-up and moved the ball around well. Zat Knight played particularly well, he's really stepped up since we lost Gary Cahill. Klasnic made a difference when he came on, he plays with a bit of swagger and it would be great if he could stay fit and get among the goals. Unfortunately it hasn't really happened for Elmander and his confidence is shot. Owen Coyle has taken a fair bit of stick in the press but I think he's doing a good job and hopefully we can really push on from here.

The fan's player ratings Jaaskelainen 6; Steinsson 5 (Weiss 90 n/a), Ricketts 6, Knight 7, Robinson 6; Lee 7, Muamba 7, Holden 6, Wilshere 7 (Taylor 81 n/a); Davies 6, Elmander 4 (Klasnic 64 7)

ARTHUR WILLIAMS Observer reader

The scoreline was a fair reflection of the game – we hit the post twice but if we'd sneaked a draw it would have been a travesty. Bolton were just more clinical and outplayed us in every department. It's hard to pick any of our players out for praise; Hahnemann made a couple of saves to keep us in it in the first half. Doyle worked hard as always but he's been playing up front on his own for too long and needs some help. Stephen Ward was particularly poor, but he wasn't the only one. As a team we have the ability to play well, like we did against Chelsea the other week, but we just didn't turn up today. A stronger team than Bolton would've crushed us.

The fan's player ratings

Hahnemann 8; Zubar 5, Craddock 6, Berra 4, Ward 4; Foley 5 (Keogh 73 4), Guedioura 5 (Ebanks-Blake 68 6), Henry 6, Jones 6, Jarvis 6;