Owen Coyle bagged his first points as Bolton boss against former
club Burnley as the Trotters beat the Clarets 1-0 at The Reebok on
Tuesday.
A goal from Chung-Yong Lee in the 34th minute at the Reebok
Stadium was enough to separate the two teams.
In the process Bolton overtook Burnley in the Premier League
after a match that was competitive throughout given what was at
stake.
While Coyle will take professional satisfaction you suspect
there will be little gloating as he brought a number of the Burnley
players on show to Turf Moor.
Coyle did state he felt Bolton were a bigger club and the
result may have been evidence of that. However both face a battle
to stay in the top flight.
About 5,000 supporters backed Burnley and some abusive chants
were aimed at Coyle while one banner stated "He is not the
Messiah".
Burnley's cause was not helped in that they lost Graham
Alexander and Chris McCann to injury in the first half.
Bolton should have taken the lead in the 17th minute when
Fabrice Muamba found himself clear on goal after being released by
Matt Taylor but he cleared the bar with his effort.
That gave the home side confidence and Gary Cahill nodded
wide from close range after Burnley's Clarke Carlisle almost sent a
header beyond his own goalkeeper Brian Jensen.
The visitors hit back and Chris Eagles squandered a glorious
chance in the 28th minute when he mishit the rebound after Jussi
Jaaskelainen parried Steven Fletcher's shot from inside the area.
It was an open game and Lee won the ball off Jensen and it
fell to Kevin Davies but he steered it wide.
Back came Burnley and Christian Kalvanes' effort beat
Jaaskelainen but finished the wrong side of the post.
Bolton made the breakthrough with Lee taking advantage of a
superb ball from Davies.
He clipped in a shot that hit the underside of the bar and
Michael Duff thumped it clear, only for referee Martin Atkinson to
award a goal.
It took Lee's tally to five and he was troubling Burnley with
his pace and movement.
Bolton stepped up the pace at the start of the second half
with Lee and Davies both seeing efforts go wide of the target.
Burnley found themselves on the back foot with Jensen turning
Matt Taylor's shot around the post after he had been picked out by
Lee.
Then Tamir Cohen headed wide for Bolton after a long throw
from Sam Ricketts caused confusion in the visiting defence.
This was a difficult spell for Burnley and Muamba saw a shot
from 25 yards deflected to safety in the 62nd minute.
Manager Brian Laws made a switch three minutes later by
bringing on striker Frederic Nimani for Eagles.
Nimani is on loan from Monaco until the end of the season and
only received his international clearance on the day of the game.
He certainly cut an imposing figure as Burnley went in search
of an equaliser.
However Bolton maintained the momentum and Johan Elmander
clipped a header wide of the post following a cross from Davies.
Bolton were keen to put the game out of sight and Cohen got
into a good position in the 82nd minute but fired wide of the
target.
Then substitute Ricardo Gardner saw his effort turned away by
Jensen as Bolton finished the stronger of the two teams.
Burnley have now picked up only one point from 12 games on
the road and that is relegation form. Laws knows he has a job on
his hands.
