Bolton Wanderers 2 Malaga 1
By Mark Heys
August 2 2005
Danish striker Henrik Pedersen struck late on to save Bolton Wanderers from a third consecutive pre-season defeat against Spanish side Malaga.
By Mark Heys
August 2 2005
Danish striker Henrik Pedersen struck late on to save Bolton Wanderers from a third consecutive pre-season defeat against Spanish side Malaga.
Just 3,639 people turned up at a wet Reebok Stadium to see the Trotters in action, and this went down on record as their lowest ever turn out ever since the stadium opened eight years ago.
Indeed the damp conditions and the low turnout where not the only problem, as on 15 minutes former Bolton loan star Salva Ballesta gave the vistors the lead when lobbing the ball over his former team mate Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the Wanderers goal.
The game at times was very flat, but Bolton tried to up the ante on occasions and where unlucky not to draw on level terms on the half hour when El-Hadji Diouf saw his effort fisted away by the Malaga keeper Francesc Arnau.
Seven minutes before half time the home side pulled the scoreline level when Gary Speed headed home an Ivan Campo free kick after a neat flick on by big Tunisian defender Radhi Jaidi.
Malaga made a number of changes at the half time interval and this seemed to work against them as it disrupted their earlier gameplan which had seen them frustrate the Wanderers in the first half.
Wanderers skipper Jay-Jay Okocha had a couple of chances midway through the second half, one of which was a free kick that stung the palms of Arnau whilst the other shot by the Nigerian went wide.
The largely empty stadium made it hard for both teams to increase their enthusiasm but it was late on in the game when the real drama started to unfold. Firstly, Pablo Counago, recently released by Ipswich Town, saw his effort saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen and with just three minutes of normal time remaining it was Henrik Pedersen who struck the winner when firing home from inside the area.
Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ivan Campo (Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye), Ricardo Gardner (Scott Jamieson), Tal Ben-Haim (Bruno N'Gotty), Radhi Jaidi, Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Kevin Nolan (Nicky Hunt), Kevin Davies (Henrik Pedersen), Jay-Jay Okocha, El-Hadji Diouf.
Malaga C.F: Francesc Arnau, Vincente Valcarce (Abel Gomez Moreno), Cesar Navas (Paco Esteban), Alexis (Fernando Usero), Fernando Sanz (Munoz), Gerado (Alvaro Silva), Ignacio Perez Santamaria (Antonio Ruben), Juan Rodrigues (Manu Sanchez), Marcelo Romero (Pablo Counago), Edgar (Lotes), Salva Ballesta (Antonio Hidalgo)
Indeed the damp conditions and the low turnout where not the only problem, as on 15 minutes former Bolton loan star Salva Ballesta gave the vistors the lead when lobbing the ball over his former team mate Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the Wanderers goal.
The game at times was very flat, but Bolton tried to up the ante on occasions and where unlucky not to draw on level terms on the half hour when El-Hadji Diouf saw his effort fisted away by the Malaga keeper Francesc Arnau.
Seven minutes before half time the home side pulled the scoreline level when Gary Speed headed home an Ivan Campo free kick after a neat flick on by big Tunisian defender Radhi Jaidi.
Malaga made a number of changes at the half time interval and this seemed to work against them as it disrupted their earlier gameplan which had seen them frustrate the Wanderers in the first half.
Wanderers skipper Jay-Jay Okocha had a couple of chances midway through the second half, one of which was a free kick that stung the palms of Arnau whilst the other shot by the Nigerian went wide.
The largely empty stadium made it hard for both teams to increase their enthusiasm but it was late on in the game when the real drama started to unfold. Firstly, Pablo Counago, recently released by Ipswich Town, saw his effort saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen and with just three minutes of normal time remaining it was Henrik Pedersen who struck the winner when firing home from inside the area.
Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ivan Campo (Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye), Ricardo Gardner (Scott Jamieson), Tal Ben-Haim (Bruno N'Gotty), Radhi Jaidi, Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Kevin Nolan (Nicky Hunt), Kevin Davies (Henrik Pedersen), Jay-Jay Okocha, El-Hadji Diouf.
Malaga C.F: Francesc Arnau, Vincente Valcarce (Abel Gomez Moreno), Cesar Navas (Paco Esteban), Alexis (Fernando Usero), Fernando Sanz (Munoz), Gerado (Alvaro Silva), Ignacio Perez Santamaria (Antonio Ruben), Juan Rodrigues (Manu Sanchez), Marcelo Romero (Pablo Counago), Edgar (Lotes), Salva Ballesta (Antonio Hidalgo)
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