Forty-nine seconds. That`s all it took for Matt Taylor to atone for last season`s carelessness in front of goal, against his former club Portsmouth. Taylor cleverly lifted the ball over Hermann Hreidarsson with one foot and fired home with the other. Less than two minutes later and he headed across the penalty area for Ricardo Gardner to double Bolton`s lead.
If there is a disappointment from the home side`s perspective, it is that the final score didn`t reflect their obvious superiority. If Portsmouth had gone home on the wrong end of a seven-goal hiding, they could have had no complaints. As it was, Peter Crouch`s far post header, gave the scoreline respectability and kept the home fans nervous until the final whistle.
There was no one there to meet Gretar Steinsson`s cross on five minutes. Gardner and then Taylor failed to beat David James, when they should have done, Steinsson headed against the post and Johan Elmander fired over when put in by Kevin Davies. That was just in the first half.
Elmander, and the Kevins, Nolan and Davies were unlucky not to get on the score sheet in the second half, and Gardner fired into the side netting after a scintillating run. Gary Megson was fulsome in his praise of the man he rescued from Portsmouth reserves.
‘Matt’s set-piece delivery is second to none, he tucks in, does his bit defensively and gets forward,` said the Ginger One.
‘You don’t like pushing people forward, but if England are looking for someone in what is a problem area, they could do worse than look at Matt.
‘He works his socks off and it was a really good performance by him. He’s really settled down and added goals to his game.`
Player Ratings
Jussi Jaaskelainen 6
Not much to do, but did well to deny Jermain Defoe in the first half.
Gretar Steinsson 6
Effective going forward but should have closed down Krankjaer better for the cross that led to Portsmouth’s goal
Jlloyd Samuel 6
A solid second half display after first half jitter
Kevin Nolan 5
Some good defensive work, but too often off immobile and off the pace
Gary Cahill 9
A towering peformance, in direct contrast to Sol Campbell who looks past it.
Andy O’Brien 7
Struggled against Peter Crouch at times, but made amends for some recent errors.
Gavin McCann 7
Not bad, not brilliant. Medium badger.
Matt Taylor 8
Settled in nicely now and showing why Portsmouth fans would take him back.
Ricardo Gardner 8
An irresistible presence in midfield.
Johan Elmander 7
A quieter second half, but his movement and link up play was impressive in the first period
Kevin Davies 7
Had to play against Portsmouth’s defence and the referee.
Fabrice Muamba N/A