BOLTON WANDER PAST VALIANT VALE
Substitute Dean Holdworth played the Icelandic international in and he easily beat two defenders before lashing the ball past Valiants keeper Paul Musselwhite from the edge of the area with 13 minutes to go in a hard fought battle.
The windy conditions meant a skillful passing game was unlikely and Vale tried the long ball tactic to make best use of striker Gareth Taylor.
However it was on-loan star Allan Johnston that should have opened the scoring as Bolton surged forward on the counter-attack. Johnston created havoc with his dribbling ability and a shot that got caught in the wind brought out the best in Musselwhite.
The Valiants` best chance arrived on the half hour mark as Martin Bullock`s shot took a wicked deflection and it just bounced past the post with Jussi Jaaskelainen well beaten.
Paul Warhurst`s wretched run of luck continued as he limped off a minute before half-time to be replaced by Gareth Farrelly.
In the second half Vale fought back well with efforts from Taylor and Bullock going close however Bolton had the better chances and Sagi Burton`s mistake seven minutes into the second half saw Gudjohnsen curl his effort against the post and Bob Taylor fired the rebound wide.
Burton tried his best to make up for his mistake but just managed to put his acrobatic effort over and it was the Lancashire side that ran out winners.
Nic Evans
