Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Trapdoor Looms For Brittle Bolton

Aston Villa 4-0 Bolton Wanderers

Saturday April 5, 2008
att: 37,773

Two goals from skipper Gareth Barry and one each for Gabriel Agbonlahor and sub Marlon Harewood accounted for relegation-haunted Bolton, as Aston Villa put a halt to their end of season slump at Villa Park yesterday.

Bolton, clearly still reeling from their dramatic 2-3 reverse at the hands of ten-man Arsenal last week, couldn’t muster sufficient confidence or goalscoring wherewithal to trouble resurgent Villa; Gary Megson’s side visibly crumbling upon the concession of a second, decisive goal midway through the second half.

The Lancashire outfit started out brightly enough; Kevin Davies nodding over Matt Taylor’s precision cross in the third minute, before Danny Guthrie skewed a poor effort wide following an absent-minded error from Villa’s Olof Mellberg.

But, on nine minutes, it was the home side which took the lead. Ashley Young left lumbering Davies – looking every inch a fish out of water in his right-wing station – for dead and then crossed accurately for Barry to steer a header past Ali Al-Habsi from close range.

A Davies cross-shot from the right clipped the top of the Villa bar not long after, more by accident than design, but ‘keeper Scott Carson was nevertheless relieved that his poor positioning hadn’t been fully exposed. However, it was Villa – winless in their last five – who pressed forward more convincingly in search of a second goal.

Stillian Petrov slammed a volleyed effort well wide from the edge of the box, having been teed up by the industrious Young – clearly enjoying the free role handed to him by boss Martin O’Neill. Young’s clever exchange of passes with Nigel Reo-Coker – moved to the right side of a midfield trio supporting the ex-Watford star – narrowly failed to send John Carew past Bolton’s last man, captain Andy O’Brien, with the goal gaping ahead.

At the other end, Taylor’s free kick from 30 yards out was deflected just past Carson’s post on the half hour mark. Agbonlahor then broke free following the resultant Bolton corner, with characteristic electrifying pace, but when one-on-one with the returning Gary Cahill he suffered a loss of nerve and steered an aimless pass out of play when a clear goal chance beckoned.

Omani international ‘keeper Al-Habsi, deputising for Jussi Jaaskelainen, then struggled to deal with successive Villa corners, and it was his fumble which allowed Martin Laursen to clip the outside of the post with a shot from an acute angle in the 37th minute.

The lively Guthrie was booked for a hack on Petrov just before the break and Carew shortly joined him in referee Martin Atkinson’s notebook, as a result of a reckless lunge which left Icelandic defender Gretar Steinsson needing medical attention.

Bolton returned for the second half looking fired up, doubtless by a vigorous Gary Megson tea-cup throwing session, and enjoyed their best spell of the match in the ten-minute period following the interval. Carson flapped under pressure at two Bolton corners – notoriously a strength for Megson’s side – and calamity-prone Zat Knight narrowly avoided turning the ball past his own ‘keeper in a penalty box scramble.

The decisive moment of the game though, arose from smart counter-attacking interplay down Villa’s left side. Barry received the ball from Young tight on the touchline and whipped in an inviting ball for Agbonlahor to finish off a fine move, in the process breaking a scoring drought which has dogged the speedy forward since the turn of the year.

A two-goal lead emboldened the home team; the confident, expansive play of earlier in their season returning at once. Stillian Petrov’s cute throughball sliced the vistors apart, a re-ignited Agbonlahor slid in Reo-Coker, whose shot was tipped wide by Al-Habsi. From the corner Villa had their third; Barry’s drive glanced into the net, owing to a heavy deflection off unfortunate Joey O’Brien.

In spite of his side’s listlessness, Bolton loanee Guthrie was able to manufacture two presentable opportunities for a consolation goal, but on the first occasion was denied by a desperate Zat Knight block, and, on the second, his fine approach work led only to raiding full-back Steinsson shooting tamely straight at Carson.

Perennial super-sub Marlon Harewood then emerged from the bench once more to replace John Carew on 77 minutes, and within five minutes of his introduction added Villa’s fourth. Woeful defending from the crestfallen visitors allowed the powerful targetman to head in Gareth Barry’s pinpoint free-kick totally unmarked.

There was still time for Villa’s January signing Wayne Routledge to make his debut from the bench and for the otherwise impressive Reo-Coker to blot his copybook with an ineffable booking for wrestling El-Hadji Diouf – a disinterested passenger throughout – to the ground. His ninth yellow card (plus one red) of the season leaves the midfielder walking a suspension tightrope prior to the upcoming Second City derby with local rivals Birmingham City.

Martin O’Neill said of his side: “We played very, very well indeed – back to our best.”

“It was a pressure game, but we handled it well,” he continued.

“We’d hit the buffers of late, certainly. The confidence starts to ebb away but that first goal (their first from open play since late February) saw it return.”

On the end of Agbonlahor’s goal drought he said: “He had a great opportunity before half-time when there was a chance to run at the last man, and the old Gabby would have taken that chance and been through for a strike on goal, but instead he lost his nerve and played a loose pass to no-one in particular.”

“After he got the goal – which was a magnificent goal by the way – the confidence just flooded back and he was terrific.”

A downbeat Megson conceded that his charges simply “didn’t do enough” to avoid the heavy defeat, conceding some “very sloppy” goals.

On Bolton’s slim survival prospects he said: “We haven’t given up, but we’re on an awful run.”

“It’s a huge game against West Ham (at the Reebok next Saturday). You hear a lot about ‘must-win’ games. Well, it’s as near as you can get to one of those. We need all three points from it, there’s no doubt.”

While Villa are now back in contention for a spot in the little-lauded Intertoto Cup, the grim spectre of demotion to the Championship looms ever larger for Megson’s men.

No comments: