Sir Alex Ferguson commented at the start of the season that there were no longer any “easy games” in the Premier League, and certainly no team relishes away games at places like Bolton.
The home team started brightly with plenty of hustle and bustle and it soon became evident that their superior height and weight would make life very difficult for the United defense in the continued absence of Rio Ferdinand. So it came as no surprise when Zat Knight opened the scoring from a set piece after only 6 minutes.
The visitors regrouped and slowly began to find their rhythm, but were still being generally outmuscled by Owen Coyle’s men. That, until Nani picked up the ball just inside the opposing half and opted to run at the Bolton defenders, leaving four of them in his wake, before burying the ball in the bottom corner. The goal was reminiscent of the Carlos Tevez strike for Chelsea, but if anything even more impressive.
United’s confidence grew and they dominated proceedings for twenty minutes either side of half time until the 66th minute. Having looked like conceding again at any moment, Bolton broke forward in numbers, holding their nerve and putting together three or four incisive passes before feeding Petrov who was cutting in dangerously from the left.
The Bulgarian unleashed a powerful shot which took a lucky deflection off Darren Fletcher, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time for the second week running, and flew into net with Van der Sar stranded.
It is said that fortune favours the brave and so it proved as Owen, probably the smallest man in a crowded Bolton penalty box, was the one who got his head to the ball first to turn in Nani’s 74th minute free kick and level things up.
United were still controlling play but Bolton gave it a real go in the last quarter of an hour and Elmander had a couple of decent chances that he failed to convert. At the other end there were no clear cut chances from close range, but Scholes and Berbatov had shots from around the edge of the box that on another day they would have put away. Nani failed to bend his left-footed shot inside the post, having beaten his man nicely and cut inside from the right wing.
In the first half both Giggs and Fletcher had shot straight at Jaaskelainen from central positions when players of their calibre should have done much better. One couldn’t help thinking that in United’s championship years at least a couple of those opportunities would have produced goals and the three points. That’s the difference between winning the title and coming second.
