Bolton suffered a 12th defeat of the season to slump to the foot of the Premier League table, with Aston Villa leaving the Reebok with a 2-1 win.
Villa back among the goals as they edge out struggling Bolton
Bolton suffered a 12th defeat of the season to slump to the foot of the Premier League table, with Aston Villa leaving the Reebok Stadium with a 2-1 win.
Marc Albrighton and Stiliyan Petrov were on target for Villa, meaning Ivan Klasnic's reply for the hosts counted for little.
There were 33 minutes on the clock when Villa, who had failed to score in their previous three outings, made the breakthrough.
Gabriel Agbonlahor centred from the left and, once Darren Bent had jumped over the delivery, Albrighton was on hand to turn home from close range.
Villa doubled their lead six minutes later when Petrov collected a loose ball and saw his low drive from 20 yards deflect off Gary Cahill and into the bottom corner.
Bolton knew they had to raise their game in the second half, and they hauled themselves back into the contest on 55 minutes when Klasnic swept the ball into the back of the net following a scramble inside the penalty area.
Adjustments
Bolton boss Owen Coyle made two changes to his first XI, Darren Pratley and Tuncay Sanli coming in for the benched Fabrice Muamba and injured ex-Villa man Nigel Reo-Coker, with Cahill keeping his place to face his old side after his red card in Wanderers' 3-0 defeat by Tottenham last weekend was rescinded.
Villa's team showed three adjustments from the 1-0 loss to Manchester United, manager Alex McLeish recalling Charles N'Zogbia - a week after dropping him for a breach of club rules - at the expense of Barry Bannan, and replacing injured duo Shay Given and Jermaine Jenas with Brad Guzan and Petrov.
After respects had been paid around the ground to former Bolton midfielder Gary Speed with a minute's applause, it was the hosts who created the first real chance of the game when Chris Eagles swung a free-kick towards the box and Cahill headed into Guzan's arms.
Eagles side-footed weakly at Guzan from Klasnic's lay-off before Villa squandered a good opportunity, Cahill's slip allowing N'Zogbia to cross to Petrov, who was right in front of goal but put his shot wide.
Moments later, it was Bent failing to convert when he really should have scored, the unmarked striker seeing his effort come back off the legs of Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Bolton were bizarrely awarded a free-kick in a useful position after Kevin Davies appeared to shove over Alan Hutton and it was taken by Eagles, whose strike was spilled by Guzan before the danger passed. N'Zogbia then attempted to guide the ball in following a short corner, but his effort was off target.
Wanderers were struggling to contain their opponents' attacking play and it came as little surprise when Villa made the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark, Albrighton on hand to tap in Agbonlahor's delivery from the left.
Purpose
Within six minutes, the visitors had doubled their lead, Petrov's drive taking a deflection off Cahill on its way in.
Bolton might have pulled one back two minutes before the break, but Guzan did well to block Kevin Davies' header.
The hosts showed more purpose at the start of the second half and after Guzan had dived to push away a curler from Eagles, Wanderers made it 2-1.
Klasnic pounced in the 55th minute, sweeping in his seventh goal of the season after Zat Knight's shot had caused a scramble in the box.
Bent was then guilty of further profligacy with a glaring miss, allowing the Trotters go on the hunt for an equaliser, Eagles dragging a shot wide, Kevin Davies heading tamely at Guzan and Mark Davies firing over the bar.
Coyle refreshed his attack, introducing Gael Kakuta in place of Tuncay and then being forced to replace the injured Klasnic with David Ngog.
Despite their continued efforts, though, Bolton were unable to find a leveller, with Kakuta lashing wide in the closing stages before Jaaskelainen prevented Albrighton from inflicting an even heavier defeat.
| Bolton Wanderers |
Team Statistics |
Aston Villa |
| 1 |
Goals |
2 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
2 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
5 |
| 3 |
Shots off Target |
6 |
| 7 |
Blocked Shots |
4 |
| 6 |
Corners |
10 |
| 12 |
Fouls |
9 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
6 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 65.9 |
Passing Success |
65.1 |
| 22 |
Tackles |
27 |
| 77.3 |
Tackles Success |
85.2 |
| 54.3 |
Possession |
45.7 |
| 53.3 |
Territorial Advantage |
46.7 |
| 367 |
Total Passes |
301 |
| 18 |
Total Crosses |
25 |
| 215 |
Lost Balls |
200 |
| 49 |
Recoveries |
63 |
| 51 |
1st Half Poss. |
49 |
| 58 |
2nd Half Poss. |
42 |
|
