Bolton Wanderers emerged victorious from a relegation dogfight with Queens Park Rangers thanks to an 86th minute strike by top scorer Ivan Klasnic in a nervy 2–1 win in Saturday’s early English Premier League match.
Rangers can consider themselves very unlucky as a first half header by Clint Hill crossed the goal line but was not given, simply because the referee was not in a position where he could make the call, and his assistant on the touchline was unsighted.
Prior to kickoff, Bolton’s 11th consecutive season in the Barclays Premier League found them languishing in 19th place with a meager 20 points and a wretched goal difference of -27. Interestingly, the Trotters have spent more seasons (73) in England’s top flight, without ever having won the title—more than any other team in the country. The club’s current predicament is a far cry from the heady days of 2005 when Sam Allardyce guided his side to a sixth place finish and qualification for the UEFA Cup.
In the early months of the Owen Coyle era, following the sacking of Gary Megson, Bolton were almost as successful and spent most of 2011 in the top 10. Then an excellent FA Cup run ended with an ignominious 5–0 semifinal defeat to Stoke City, and that began a terrible run of five consecutive defeats leading to a 14th place finish.
Bolton started this season with a 4–0 thumping of QPR, but then reverted to the form with which they had ended the previous campaign. Although they did manage to temporarily drag themselves clear of the relegation places in January, it was not long before they were back in the doldrums.
However, the Bolton fans had some cause for optimism as the teams emerged from the tunnel Saturday afternoon with Martin Petrov returning after a month out injured in place of Zat Knight, and both Kevin Davies and Ivan Klasnic fit enough to take their places on the substitutes’ bench.
Notwithstanding the arrival of manager Mark Hughes and several high profile signings, Queens Park Rangers were just three places and only two points better off than Bolton at the start of play, albeit with a much superior goal difference. Rangers’ priority is to avoid the dreaded drop back down to the Championship after only a single season in the top flight. The West London club was boosted by the return of both Samba Diakite and Djibril Cisse from suspension.
Bolton’s Good Fortune
Bolton started the more confident of the two sides and made most of the running for the first quarter of an hour or so; yet it was the visitors that came closest to a goal when Bobby Zamora hit the crossbar from a tight angle after being put through by a well-timed Cisse chip.
That was on the 18-minute mark, but then shortly afterwards came the most controversial incident of the game. Joey Barton’s in-swinging corner from the right was met firmly by the head of Clint Hill.
For those watching on television there was no doubt that Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan scooped the ball back from well over the line, onto the underside of the bar and out to safety. Notwithstanding the heartfelt pleadings of the Rangers players, the goal was not given, since neither referee Martin Atkinson nor his assistants had a view of the incident that would have allowed them to make a conclusive decision.
