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Roy Collins at The Times |
Fulham 1 Bolton 1
Mention Bolton to Arsene Wenger or a few more managers of fashionable clubs and you can guarantee an instant foaming at the mouth, followed by some expletives.
But Fulham do not seem to have anywhere near as much trouble with a team who could probably make a case for claiming that Millwall's most famous chant ought to belong to them.
Not many people like Bolton but Fulham have found them a rich source of Premier League points, having not lost to them at the Cottage in the Premier League. The last time they conceded all three home points was back in Division One in 1992/93.
Just as some London sides are accused of not liking it up them in the frozen north, Fulham is perhaps just too genteel for Bolton, who prefer playing their football in force nine gales in sub zero temperatures.
Once again, a gentle breeze off the Thames blew them off course when they looked like finally ending their barren spell in this corner of south London. Having frustrated Fulham for much of the afternoon, they surrendered a point to the home side's one real quality move of the match.
Zoltan Gera started it after winning the ball on the left, swiftly shifting it into the middle for Erik Nevland. Another swift pass to the right and Damien Duff shot into the corner past Jussi Jaaskelainen. It was a class finish and needed to be to beat Jaaskelainen, who brilliantly tipped a Nevland shot over the bar and made another fine save from a Duff curler.
Jaaskelainen was also booked for time wasting, while Ricardo Gardner wormed his way into referee Steve Bennett's book for dissent. Four other Bolton players saw yellow for fouls, which means that the club will face an FA fine.
A small price to pay for a precious point after three successive Premier League defeats. They are still in the bottom three but manager Gary Megson said: "You can see there is nothing wrong with the spirit in the side but I never expected that at this club".
Bolton took the lead in typical fashion, a long throw in by Gretar Steinsson causing panic in the Fulham defence, particularly from Brede Hangeland, who had time to clear before Croatian Ivan Klasnic, on loan from Nantes, swivelled to score with a low drive.
"He's up there with the best strikers in the Premiership" said Megson and he's also a typical Bolton capture, a man who has twice had surgery to save his career and who, at 29, appreciates being on a football field more than most.
Apart from a Greening shot that Steinsson cleared off the line, Fulham were out of sorts in the first half but they had much the better of the second.
They could not conjure a winner but manager Roy Hodgson said: "I would like to think that we were unlucky not to get all three points but I have to give a lot of credit to Bolton.
They had a resolute back four and goalkeeper who came up with most of the answers and they needed to because we asked them plenty of questions". For once, however, one of them was not "Can We Play You Every Week?"
FULHAM: Schwarzer 6, Pantsil 6 (Davies 68min), Hughes 7, Hangeland 5, Konchesky 6, Duff 7, Baird 6, Greening 6, Gera 7 (Dikgacoi 81min), Nevland 6, Dempsey 6
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen 7, Steinsson 6, Cahill 7, O'Brien 6, Samuel 6, McCann 8, K Davies 7, Gardner 6, Cohen (M Davies 78min) 6, Taylor 7, Klasnic 7 (Muamba 61min)
Yellow cards:
Fulham: Greening Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Sameul, Steinsson, Gardner, McCann, Davies
Referee: S Bennett
Attendance: 23,554
Source .