England's interest in this year's Uefa Cup ended as Bolton suffered a 1-0 defeat at Sporting Lisbon.
Late strike seals Sporting's passage into last eight
England's interest in this year's Uefa Cup ended as Bolton failed to reach the quarter-finals after suffering a 1-0 defeat at Sporting Lisbon.
The Portuguese giants had the initiative after drawing 1-1 in the first leg, and although the Trotters frustrated the home side for long periods, they never looked like wiping out Sporting's away-goal advantage.
Gary Megson's under-strength line-up can be proud of their performance before Bruno Pereirinha struck with four minutes remaining to seal Sporting's place in the last eight.
With so many key players left at home, it was left to the Whites' second string to fly the flag as there was no Kevin Nolan, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Kevin Davies, Matt Taylor, El Hadji Diouf, Andy O'Brien, Ricardo Gardner, Ivan Campo or Gavin McCann for this clash at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Sporting contest
Yet despite the players on view, it was primarily a reserve team that drew 2-2 at Bayern Munich, beat Red Star 1-0 in Belgrade and held Atletico Madrid to a goalless draw in Spain this season.
There was no reason to suggest Sporting would pose a greater threat than any of those illustrious three teams, and for the most part so it proved.
After 66 seconds, when Ali Al Habsi turned aside a 25-yard left-foot free-kick from last week's goalscorer Simon Vukcevic, Lisbon suggested they would dominate this leg.
Naturally Sporting enjoyed the majority of the play, creating one fine opportunity in the 31st minute.
With left-back Jlloyd Samuel the weak link in Bolton's defence, Pereirinha delivered a cross that was flicked on by Vukcevic to the far post where a full-stretch Marat Izmailov steered the ball over the crossbar.
A stray Samuel pass earlier in the half had allowed leading scorer Liedson to tee up Vukcevic, but his drive from the edge of the area was a yard wide.
Sporting finished the half with Leandro Romagnoli pulling another good save out of Al Habsi, but for all their possession, that was as much as they created.
Bolton had one effort from Portugal Under 21 international Ricardo Vaz Te that struck the sidenetting, while Danny Guthrie forced Rui Patricio into a fine, low save at his near post.
Guthrie chance
Sporting continued to enjoy the lion's share of possession after the break, but they barely troubled their visitors until late on.
Al Habsi made a straightforward save in the 56th minute, stooping low to collect a 20-yard drive from Pereirinha, who eventually grabbed the all-important winner five minutes from time.
At that stage Bolton were committing more men forward, but in turn - and with tiredness also setting in - chances to started to open up at the back.
After Liedson sidefooted one chance that was parried by Al Habsi, the Oman international was then beaten soon after courtesy of a superb curled left-foot strike into the top right-hand corner.
Al Habsi then denied Joao Moutinho a minute later as Bolton were a spent force at that stage, with their efforts in vain.
| Sporting Lisbon |
Team Statistics |
Bolton Wanderers |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
0 |
| 13 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 11 |
Corners |
4 |
| 12 |
Fouls |
18 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
3 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 77.3 |
Passing Success |
69 |
| 11 |
Tackles |
15 |
| 100 |
Tackles Success |
60 |
| 58.8 |
Possession |
41.2 |
| 51.4 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.6 |
|
