Bolton beginning to shine under 'Allardici'

Bolton Wanderers 1 Southampton 0Despite being in control for much of the 90 minutes, Bolton needed extra-time to break down a stuffy Southampton last night.

This was due mainly to an inspiring performance from Saints' goalkeeper Antti Niemi, who helped force the tie into the extra period.

Sam Allardyce is nothing if not imaginative, and the Bolton manager duly used last night's programme notes to suggest that his team's Premiership win at Chelsea was on a par with the capture of Saddam Hussein.

As Bolton's manager - who claims that, if only his surname was "Allardici" he would be being hailed as a managerial genius - put it: "Against all the odds we recorded our own piece of history. What a victory."

Suitably inspired, Bolton, arranged in a boldly attacking 4-3-3 guise and refreshed by pre-match games of darts, dominoes and snooker, very nearly scored from the first whistle.

Off the park, it was a surprise that Phil Brown, Allardyce's assistant, had not been propelled into orbit after a severe dressing down before the match from Phil Gartside, Bolton's incandescent chairman, for using a lunch-time local radio interview to suggest that Allardyce was under pressure from the board to take a pay cut.

Something of a soap opera off the pitch, Bolton were full of sub-plots on it, and the second half proved typically entertaining with the football continuing to be gloriously open.

But it wasn't until the 115th minute of the game that Henrik Pedersen swept Bolton into the semi-finals of the League Cup after substitute Anthony Barness drove the ball across the face of the goal.

But it was cruel luck on Niemi, who gave a master class in shot-stopping at the Reebok Stadium.

BOLTON: Poole, Hunt (Barness 111), N'Gotty, Charlton, Gardner, Campo, Giannakopoulos (Djorkaeff 90), Ba, Okocha, Pedersen, Davies (Jardel 78). Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Nolan. Booked: Giannakopoulos, Davies, Campo, Gardner. Goals: Pedersen 115.

SOUTHAMPTON: Niemi, Dodd, Hall, Michael Svensson, Higginbotham, Telfer, Prutton, Delap, Pahars (McCann 69), Delgado (Marsden 66), Ormerod. Subs Not Used: Jones, Kenton, Fernandes. Booked: Ormerod.

Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).