Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Everton

By Rhys Lewis
August 22 2005

Everton won 1-0 away at the Reebok stadium today thanks to a Marcus Bent goal to claim their first victory of the season against fellow European competitors Bolton.

The first half was a close contest with not many clear chances for either side. Evertons best chances of the half were a Kevin Kilbane header from a Tony Hibbert cross and and Alessandro Pistone cross which narrowly went wide of Jaaskelainen's goal. Bolton had the clearer openings of the first half with Kevin Davies having a shot well blocked by Nigel Martyn after just eight minutes and Henrik Pederson shooting inches over the bar with Nigel Martyn seemingly beaten. However the main event of the first half was the injury to Pistone who was stretchered off after half an hour. This could cause a real problem for Moyes as he also has the Sctoland left back Gary Naysmith out injured as well.

The second half continued as much of the first half had gone, with Bolton on the attack using their set pieces to cause trouble in the Everton box. But Everton took the lead after 52mins after Joseph Yobo played a ball over the top to Tim Cahill, who played the ball across the six yard box for Marcus Bent to tap in his first goal since February. Shortly after his goal, Marcus Bent was taken off because of injury on the hour mark. This will provide more injury worries for David Moyes ahead of the crucial Champions League qualifier on Wednesday in Villarreal. The rest of the match was largely Bolton on the offensive and if it was not for some resilient defending from Yobo and Weir in particular Bolton may have eqalised. Nigel Martyn made a couple of good saves from the likes of Vaz Te, and Bolton nearly got the equaliser as Diouf stepped in front of a static James McFadden and smashed a shot off the underside of the bar.

But Everton held on the for a fantastic victory similar to many of the away wins of last season. The manager, players and fans will be hoping for a similar season after yet another impressive away win for David Moyes' side.