Charlton Athletic 0 Bolton Wanderers 1

Last updated : 29 October 2005 By Footymad Previewer
Bolton Wanderers love visiting The Valley to play Charlton and their latest trip to South London produced another three points for Sam Allardyce's resilient team as they secured a 1-0 victory.

Charlton have never managed to beat the Lancashire side on their own patch in five attempts and the London side's excellent start to the season is already being undermined by their poor home form which has seen them win only one of their first five Premiership matches.

This is in stark contrast to their away record where they have an incredible 100 per cent record with five wins, but Bolton, one of the most difficult sides to play against, move above them after this smash-and-grab victory courtesy of Kevin Nolan's second-half goal.

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley and his Bolton counterpart Allardyce have both been touted by bookmakers as possible future England managers but it was Big Sam who won the tactical battle with this win.

After their great Carling Cup victory on penalties over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in midweek, Curbishley said he would rather have had three points from this Premiership battle.

But he was out-foxed and his team out-gunned by a Bolton side that continued to show that they are a force to be reckoned with in the Premiership.

The Charlton boss said he has his strongest ever squad that could hopefully cope with the loss of key players but this failed to happen as the home side were without eight players including nine-goal striker Darren Bent who missed his first game of the season with a bout of influenza.

His lighting pace up front, which would have threatened the Bolton back-line, was severely missed by the home side that faded after a promising start, although Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen had to make a smart second-half save to deny the home side a share of the spoils.

Bolton were prepared to soak up the first-half pressure as Darren Ambrose cut in from the left before firing into the side-netting.

The disappointing result for Charlton spoiled what they hoped would be a spectacular weekend following the visit of Prince William to their training ground on Friday. The Prince will become President of the Football Association in May and he enjoyed a stint in goal against some young schoolchildren.

Bolton didn't have a shot on target in the first half but were much more positive after the break with Gary Speed having a free-kick well saved. It was the tenth successive match in which Bolton have scored.

The only goal came after 72 minutes when Abdoulaye Faye's shot took a deflection off a Charlton defender. Although goalkeeper Stephan Andersen made a good save to push the ball away, Hidetoshi Nakata crossed it back into the goalmouth for Kevin Nolan to score easily from close range.

In the closing stages Charlton substitute Jonatan Johansson brought a fine save from Jaaskelainen and the Bolton goalkeeper spectacularly flicked over a close-range header from another Addicks sub Bryan Hughes.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Radhi Jaidi (Bolton) - Was a towering figure in the visitors' defence. He won every header and oozed confidence throughout as Sam Allardyce's side produced a solid display.