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Swansea City 3-1 Bolton: Allen great-strike, Graham own goal
Swansea City maintained their unbeaten home form this season with a convincing 3-1 defeat of ten-man Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League.
Joe Allen and Danny Graham strikes, either side of a Scott Sinclair penalty, did the damage for Owen Coyle’s Bolton, whose scant consolation came courtesy of an own-goal from Graham.
Prior to the match, with Swansea protecting their strong record at the Liberty Stadium and Bolton’s two wins this season coming from their travels on the road, an intriguing, tightly-knit match was certainly expected.
However, the first-half flattered to deceive; proving to be an ultimately drab affair where the best chance saw David Ngog force Swans ‘keeper Michel Vorm into a fine one-handed save in the 20th minute.
After Chris Eagles’ initial effort was charged down on the edge of the Swansea box, Ngog gathered and his smart-turn-and-shot produced the required acrobatics from the in-form Vorm.
Bolton’s other notable chance came in the 37th minute where Nigel Reo-Coker’s dangerous low cross from the right just needed a deft touch from Ngog to convert but the Frenchman failed in this task, having stretched towards the ball from just a few yards out.
Swansea provided plenty of attacking vigour throughout the opening 45 minutes but their leading strike duo of Sinclair and Graham failed to link-up effectively in order to sufficiently test Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.
Brendan Rodgers men’s only chance of note in a first-half shorn of quality came just before the 10 minute-mark, where Nathan Dyer’s cross from the right was slightly over-hit with Sinclair having ghosted forwards looking to pounce.
No changes were made at the start of the second-half, but the home team began it in fine fettle - Graham dragging a curling effort wide of goal in the 47th minute having been beautifully played in by Sinclair.
Owen Coyle’s Bolton were then up against it just five minutes into the second-half as Gardner saw red for a second bookable offence, after the Jamaican had tugged at Dyer’s shirt.
The deadlock was to be broken moments after Gardner’s indiscretion, as Allen collected a square pass from the resulting free-kick, before proceeding to travel forward and side-foot the ball low and inside Jaaskelainen's near post.
Swansea’s mounting pressure, having secured that opening goal, saw Owen Coyle take off Martin Petrov for the more defensively-minded Paul Robinson - making his 200th Premier League appearance – but it did little to stem the home team’s mounting tide.
After both Dyer and Sinclair tested Jaaskelainen with low, goal-bound efforts, their lead was to be doubled in the 57th minute as former Swans player Darren Pratley, on his first return to his previous club, conceded a penalty for a sloppy challenge, which Sinclair duly stepped up to convert - coolly sending Bolton’s Finnish ‘keeper the wrong way.
With Graham rattling the Bolton crossbar with a flicked header just past the hour mark, it had seemed to be all one-way traffic. But it was to be the Swans striker who would inadvertently give Bolton a way back into the match.
With the visitiors running out of steam, Graham, defending deep in his own half of the field, sliced a delivery from the left flank off of his boot, past a stricken Vorm and into the roof of his own net in the 75th minute.
The fear for the home side then was whether lightining would strike twice after the Swans had given up a two-goal lead away to Wolves last weekend.
That fear was to grow as Bolton brought on Ivan Klasnic and Gael Kakuta for the final ten minutes in search of what would have still proved to be an unexpected equaliser.
However, the home side still ventured forward in search of the third and both Allen and Sinclair were to be the main culprits in failing to extend Swansea’s lead, the latter in particular smashing a Dyer cut-back against the Bolton crossbar in the 84th minute with the goal at his mercy.
Then, in injury time, substitute Robinson was called on to acrobatically head clear a Graham stike off his own goalline as Swansea turned the screw.
Graham wasn’t to be denied in making up for his earlier own-goal though, as the striker calmly slotted home when put clean through in the third minute of stoppage time, to put the finishing touch on a deserved victory for Swansea and pile more misery on an out-of-form Bolton Wanderers.
Liam Graf / Eurosport
Source: eurosport
Team Line-up:
Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Taylor, Dyer, Gower, Britton, Allen, Sinclair, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Orlandi, Routledge, Lita, Moore, Richards, Moras
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Wheater, Gardner, Eagles, Reo-Coker, Pratley, Mark Davies, Petrov, Ngog. Subs: Bogdan, Robinson, Muamba, Knight, Kevin Davies, Klasnic, Kakuta
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