Bolton 2 Fulham 1:Blackmail may be an ugly word, but Nicolas Anelka made it feel like the right one yesterday. Bolton fans, having been warned by their chairman, Phil Gartside, that the Frenchman may walk away if the atmosphere at the Reebok Stadium does not improve, dug deep and turned out in their numbers, and Anelka rewarded them with the sort of performance that made it hard to argue that the price of a ticket did not represent value for money.
From about halfway through the first half, up to which point Fulham comfortably held their own, Anelka was close to his considerable best. Very much the focal point of the Bolton attack in the continued absence of Kevin Davies, he was always available, bringing his team-mates into play with a mixture of instant control, strength on the ball and lay-offs and passing of the highest quality.
Bolton's first goal came after Stelios Giannakopolous's deep cross from the right was headed back across goal by the impressive Kevin Nolan, and Anelka, waiting for the ball to drop, was barged clumsily to the ground by Michael Brown for an unarguable penalty which Gary Speed stroked home.
It took a fine save from Jan Lastuvka to prevent Bolton going into the break two ahead, the Czech goalkeeper flinging himself to his right to palm Andranik Teymourian's shot over the bar after a combination of El Hadji Diouf's pass and Anelka's brilliant cut-back, but the second was not long delayed.
Picking up the ball in his own half and close to the left touchline, Anelka looked up and stroked a 40-yard pass across the field into the path of Nicky Hunt. The full-back exchanged passes with Diouf to work space for a cross that Stelios headed against the post, the hard-running Nolan arriving just in time to turn the rebound past Lastuvka.
Hunt proved less reliable at the back, and Zat Knight escaped his attentions to head Simon Davies' corner past Jaaskelainen. Jussi Jaaskelainen was required to make a brilliant injury-time save from Tomasz Radzinski to deny the visitors a point.
Guardian Service
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