Bolton 0 Middlesbrough 0 - Full-Time Match Report

By Steve Goldby
September 24 2006

Boro travelled to Bolton hoping to up the average points for this season to more than one per game. Having never, ever won at The Reebok, that could be a tall order.

Jonathan Woodgate becomes the first ever loan player to captain a side in the Premier League. Adam Johnson deputises for the Injured Stewart Downing and Lee Cattermole replaces the suspended/injured George Boateng.

Schwarzer, Taylor, Pogatetz, Woodgate, Davies, Johnson (Mendieta 69), Cattermole, Rochemback, Euell, Morrison (Parnaby 89), Yakubu
Turnbull, Bates, Maccarone

THE FIRST HALF

There was a scary moment within the opening two minutes when Nicloas Anelka managed to round Mark Scwarzer and the Boro crowd gasped as Anelka fell under the challenge. Luckily referee Steve Bennett saw sense and did not give the penalty.

Gary Speed was also looking threatening early on as Bolton looked well up for the battle and were really going at the Boro. It was down to captain Woodgate to save our blushes with a crunching challenge on Speed which led to the first corner of the game.

Nothing came of that and Boro managed to counter attack but Yakubu and Cattermole were found wanting up front and the opportunity was wasted.

Bolton retaliated immediately with another attack which was completed by a Gary Speed shot from distance that was worryingly close to producing the opening goal. Boro were clearly sleeping when the attack was in motion and there seemed to be just one side in it at this stage.

On ten minutes, Boro won a free-kick thirty yards out and Fabio Rochemback sent in a venomous shot that only just flashed wide.

Woodgate was required to come to the rescue again just a couple of minutes later as Boro found themselves under some very heavy pressure. Bolton were now running riot on both flanks and Boro looked for all intents and purposes as they a collapse was inevitable, were it not for Jonathan Woodgate.

Boro's first real shot of the match came from James Morrison on eighteen minutes when last week's goalscorer forced a fine save from Jaaskelainen when he unleashed one from twenty yards.

On twenty-three minutes Adam Johnson was booked for a routine foul on Campo. The action clearly didn't warrant a yellow card and Johnson can consider himself unlucky to have been shown it. This was Steve Bennett though, the man who refereed our games at Liverpool and Upton Park last season.

As the game started to go a bit flat, Andrew Taylor took an elbow in the face from the dirty El Hadj-Diouf but at least Diouf didn't spit at him as well.

AS the half-hour mark came and went, Boro had managed to regain some of their composure and were starting to nullify Bolton's threat from the flanks without really making any headway themselves.

With ten minutes to go until half-time, Boro started to press a little through Cattermole but once again, failed to produce any real threat to the Bolton goal.

After the initial promise that this match had shown, it had now descended into a drudge fest with very little action to speak of and even less striking chances.

With just a minute to go until the break, Anelka took a free-kick that had Schwarzer beaten but luckily went wide. The resulting corner was safely gathered but it was a warning that although the threat posed by Bolton had been stifled, it was still very much present.

THE SECOND HALF

Boro started the half positively with an attack that was snuffed out when Yakubu completely missed the ball from eighteen yards out. Bolton contered and Anelka was unlucky to see his shot miss the target.

Yakubu was the guilty party again as another potential Boro attack went to waste. He was losing the ball far too easily and getting knocked off the ball even easier.

Jason Euell should have opened his Boro scoring account a minute later but he opted to pass to Adam Johnson instead and another opportunity went to waste.

And just like at Arsenal last week, Boro almost fell foul to a quickly taken free-kick that had Skippy scurrying across the goal as the defence were completely out-thought. We obviously hadn't learned any lessons from last week's incident.

Boro continued to press with Pogatetz in particular looking solid and impressive and it was he who won a free-kick around twenty-five yards out which Rochemback sent high into the stand.

The hour mark came and went with Boro still having registered zero shots on target and still not having sent a meaningful cross in from either wing.

But that changed on sixty-six minutes as Yakubu collected from a corner and sent in a blinding shot that Jaaskelainen saved well. Rochemback had another go from the resulting corner and once again Jaaskelainen saved. This was Boro's best spell of the game and it really looked like a goal was coming now.

More pressure and a couple more efforts from Boro came with James Morrison almosr finishing one off from a counter and Adam Johnson keeping good possession but losing the ball just before he had time to send his cross in.

On sixty-nine minutes, Adam Johnson was withdrawn and Gaizka Mendieta came on in his place. Mendieta took up Johnson's position on the left and was immediately involved in the action via another attack that came to nothing.

Bolton came back at us straight away and two incidents in the space of a minute had the Bolton fans going absolutely berserk as first Andrew Davies' made a fair challenge on Nolan that had the masses acreaming for a foul and the Jonathan Woodgate fairly stopped Campo in mid-flow. Steve Bennett seemed to be on our side today but both decisions were right and fair.

With ten minutes to go, Boro missed the best chance of the match when Jason Euell dispossessed Meite and picked out Yakubu with a peach of a pass. Yakubu opted to try and round the keeper and completely fouled it up by lifting the ball wide. I wonder where Mark Viduka was today?

A minute later, Anelka almost opened the scoring but had to settle for a corner as Skippy got a hand to his stinging shot and Boro countered again as Woodgate cleared the danger and Boro surged forward, winning a corner in the process that was ultimately wasted.

Neither team gave up on the chance of grabbing a late winner in the last five minutes but neither side looked as thought they really had the cutting edge to achieve it.

Gareth Southgate made a late substitution when Stuart Parnaby replaced James Morrison but there was no time for any further meaningful action.

All in all it was a worthy away point but ironically, Boro's defence now looks incredibly solid and the weakness in the side seems to have transferred to the attack.

Full-time whistle: 1652 - Report Online: 1654

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