With doom raining down on him, Gary Megson put together a brilliant tactical plan in leading Bolton to a 2-0 victory over Man City in front of their home fans.Whilst City controlled possession of the ball before the break, all efforts couldn't get past keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. After the break, Bolton seemed to grow with confidence with each minute and gradually went forward as City fell back on their heels. Finally with thirteen minutes remaining Gretar Steinsson's cross was redirected in by Ricardo Gardner. Some may have question whether he was offside and others contended that the call made up for a rather dubious missed foul call by referee Mike Riley when Richard Dunne tangled with Matthew Taylor in the box but regardless, Bolton had the lead and as time would prove out, they would not give it up. Two minutes from time, Ricardo Gardner sent a perfect cross through the box from the left side that Richard Dunne inadvertently cleared into the City goal to make it 2-0 and give Bolton the victory.
After the match Mark Hughes noted to the BBC:
"They made it hard for us to play our normal game and credit to them for that.
"You have to be stronger in possession but we failed in that respect. We need to be stronger mentally and physically.
"Our home form is excellent but our away form is weak so we need to look at that and address where we are weak. The performance we wanted wasn't there."
Whilst many will complain of the less than "entertaining" brand of Football the Wanderers played, at the end of the day they neatly tucked three points away to the dismay of City fans.
The loss sends City to tenth in the table only two points about West Ham who occupy the final relegation spot. Man City returns to action this Thursday against Twente Enschede in the UEFA Cup.
