Blackburn Rovers 0. Bolton Wanderers 1.

By Mark Heys
October 23 2006

Jussi Jaaskelainen saved two late penalties as Bolton Wanderers recored a 1-0 victory against their local rivals Blackburn Rovers yesterday afternoon.

The Finnish international got down well to save spot kicks from Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts in a game which was to explode into life in the final ten minutes.

Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan also collected the first red card of his career as referee Mike Dean dismissed the midfielder for his protests after the second penalty decision was given.

Bolton had earlier taken a 62nd minute lead when Ivan Campo headed home his fourth goal of the season to net the club their fourth consecutive away win in quick succession .

Rovers themselves felt that they should have had a goal after Lucas Neill's shot was hacked off the line by Bolton's Gary Speed but referee Dean claimed that the whole of the ball did not cross the line.

The win for Bolton was also marred after defender Abdoulaye Faye was taken to hospital after suffering concussion following an early collision which his goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Faye clattered into the keeper in only the third minute of the game but bravely played on until half time before being replaced by former Manchester United man Quinton Fortune.

Blackburn pressed the visitors in the opening half but could not turn their dominence into goals as Morten Gamst Pedersen, Robbie Savage and Tugay failed to beat Jaaskelainen.

Wanderers on the hand had Nicolas Anelka's pace to call upon and both he and the roundly booed El-Hadji Diouf looked to get in behind the Rovers defence throughout the afternoon..

The best two chances of the opening half came the way of Bolton's Diouf as his diving header from Anelka's cross came back off the base of the post. At the other end veteran midfielder Tugay stung the fingertips of Jaaskelainen with a fine drive from the edge of the box.

Blackburn also thought they should have earned themselves a penalty but the officials waved away the appeals after Australian full back Brett Emerton went down under a challenge from Diouf.

The start of the second half saw the game continue its frantic pace as both sides looked to make a breakthrough with Wanderers looking pretty threatening thanks to Anelka.

It was Rovers who forced the first save of the final period though as African striker Benni McCarthy managed to turn Tal Ben-Haim and get in a shot well into the Bolton area.

Campo's matchwinner came with just over half an hour of the game to play. The Spaniard rose well to head home Diouf's corner to the delight of the travelling Wanderers support who had turned out in their numbers.

Soonafter Kevin Nolan could have extended Bolton's lead but Rovers had their giant goalkeeper Brad Freidel to thank for pulling off a top drawer save to deny the England hopeful.

Both sides made changes as Blackburn brought on Jason Roberts, Aaron Mokoena and German teenager Sergio Peter whilst Bolton introduced Ricardo Vaz-Te in place of the hard working Diouf.

In the closing two minutes the game threatened to boil over as Dean awarded two Blackburn penalties. Both involved substitute Roberts who went down under challenges from Fortune and Speed.

The first decision was dubious and the second one perhaps also but referee Dean pointed to the spot on each occasion. Fortunately for Wanderers their goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was once again in outstanding form to produce two saves of top quality to effectively win Bolton the game.

Bolton must now travel down to London in midweek to take on Charlton Athletic in the next phase of the Carling Cup.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Faye (Quinton Fortune), Abdoulaye Meite, Tal Ben-Haim, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Gary Speed, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka (Stelios Giannakopoulos), El-Hadji Diouf (Ricardo Vaz-Te)

Subs Not Used: Idan Tal, Ian Walker

Blackburn Rovers: Brad Freidel, Brett Emerton, Andre Ooijer, Zurab Kishinishvili, Lucas Neill, David Bentley, Robbie Savage, Tugay, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Shobna Nonda, Benni McCarthy

Subs Not Used: Francis Jeffers, Jason Brown

Referee:

Mike Dean

Attendance:

27,662

Booked:

Robbie Savage (Blackburn)

Quinton Fortune (Bolton)

Lucas Neill (Blackburn)

Kevin Nolan (Bolton)

Sent Off:

Kevin Nolan (Bolton)