Bolton claim Red Star win
Gary Speed was back to captain Bolton tonight
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Thursday, 06, Dec 2007 10:36
Bolton Wanderers put aside concerns regarding their fans to register an impressive 1-0 win away at Red Star Belgrade in the Uefa Cup this evening.
Hundreds of Bolton fans were unable to attend the game after they were held by Serbian police at a hotel. But a Gavin McCann goal ensured they would have something to celebrate.
The win sees Bolton climb to top in Group F, but having played all their group games, they can still be leapfrogged by three other teams who still have one game left to play.
Manager Gary Megson, who seems to give more importance to the Premier League than the Uefa Cup, decided to rest the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Kevin Nolan, El-Hadji Diouf, and goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
But Jaaskelainen's deputy Ali Al-Hasbi was in inspired form and made a number of great saves. Al-Hasbi made two diving saves from Joao Nuno Lucas and Ognjen Koroman to keep his side on level terms.
The Serbian side also came close to scoring through Dejan Milovanovic, who saw his brilliant free-kick just go wide of the Bolton goal.
Bolton made the home side pay for their missed chances on the stroke of half-side. McCann got onto the end of a corner which Red Star failed to clear and he slotted the ball home from 12 yards to score his first goal for the club.
Stelios Giannakopoulos had a wonderful chance to double Bolton's lead but he could only find the side netting when well placed inside the box.
Bolton will now hope that two of either Bayern Munich, Aris Salonika, or Braga lose their final Group F match which will mean the English team will qualify for the next stage.