In the end Bolton Wanderers were unable to escape the consequences of their repeated shortcomings as a Premiership side. A relaxed 2-0 victory for Chelsea, three days before they meet VfB Stuttgart in Stockholm in the Cup Winners' Cup final, yesterday saw Colin Todd's industrious but limited team relegated for the second time in three seasons.
So the full effects of Newton's law - Isaac that is, not Eddie - were applied after all. Two of last season's promoted teams - Crystal Palace and Barnsley - were already down and now Bolton have joined them, unable to escape the gravitational pull.
The reality was that only the moribund events at Everton had given Bolton unexpected hopes of survival. By the beginning of December, while they had not lost many games, a profusion of draws was dragging them into another struggle to stay up. Then a run of a dozen league games without a victory made them an odds-on bet to return to the First Division.
Yesterday's match amounted to a microcosm of their season. Having regained Premiership status impressively at the initial attempt, scoring 100 goals in the process, their attack was unable to maintain its prolific habits, and against Chelsea they continued to miss the target with depressing regularity before being picked off by superior opposition finishing.
Even when Bolton did get their aim straight during a brief period of dominance before half-time, goal-bound shots were kept out without Ed De Goey having to make a save. Eventually Chelsea won the match in the second half with goals from Gianluca Vialli, their player-manager, and the 19year-old Jody Morris.
"Being in that dressing-room is not a nice experience," sighed Todd after the game. "We're disappointed. I really believed that this time we had a squad capable of staying up."
On yesterday's evidence, that belief was seldom likely to be born out by actuality. Bolton were one-paced and lacked both natural width and a natural finisher. John Sheridan's passes and the hard work of Jimmy Phillips gave them parity in midfield for a time but all along you suspected that Chelsea could win more or less when they felt like it.
Vialli and the rest of his team managed to strike the right balance between showing respect for the situation and not taking unnecessary physical risks with a European final so close.
Before half-time Chelsea chugged along in second gear, and this was Bolton's best opportunity to take command of the game, but the second half brought on Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo and Gustavo Poyet, and suddenly that chance had gone.
The fact that Mark Hughes stayed on the field for the whole 90 minutes on a hot afternoon suggested that the 34-year-old Welshman would be on the bench in Stockholm. Gianfranco Zola, who did not appear yesterday, is the only serious doubt.
The scenario at Stamford Bridge was conditioned by the news from Goodison Park of Everton's early goal against Coventry. Almost from the start Bolton realised that they would probably have to win to survive even if, in the end, a draw would have been enough.When Todd's five man midfield began to drive through Chelsea's cover, forcing corners and winning free kicks, images of victory must have begun to form in Bolton's minds. In fact the game might well have been won in the space of four minutes around the half hour.First Sheridan's 20 yard drive from the right hand corner of the penalty area took a deflection before glancing to safety off the shining head of Frank Leboeuf. The resulting corner found Gerry Taggart wasting a free header. Then Per Frandsen set off on a lone surge through the middle, side stepping Leboeuf's lunge and round De Goey only to see his shot cleared from the goalmouth by Dennis Wise.Todd knew he had to add power to his attack. First he brought on Gaetano Giallanza, a Swiss Italian on loan from Nantes, for Bob Taylor. Then he replaced a defender, Gudni Bergsson, with Michael Johansen's extra pace on the right, leaving Taggart and Mark Fish to deal with Vialli and Hughes. Now Chelsea had space and time to penetrate Bolton's defence at will. In the 75th minute Morris's precise pass sent Vialli through to flick the ball past the advancing Keith Branagan. Coventry's equaliser had Bolton's followers pleading for something similar from their team in the last two minutes, but Poyet set up a simple goal for Morris as the game approached stoppage time.For Bolton the season was all over. For Chelsea, however, the finale is yet to come.After the match, Bolton boss Todd kept the tears from his eyes as he faced up to the misery of another relegation, but admitted: "This is the biggest heartbreak of my career."His troops arrived in West London knowing victory at Chelsea would assure them of Premiership survival.Todd tried to keep a brave face as he faced up to the misery shared by his players but admitted: "It was hard to bear."It hurts even more than last time because I honestly thought we were good enough to stay in the Premiership," said Todd."When you earn the right to go into the Premiership you want to stay there because everyone knows it's the only place to be."I really believed the squad we had was capable of staying in the Premiership.Todd, however, was not in the mood to look for recriminations as he added: "I'd like to thank the players for the tremendous effort they've put in, not just today but over the season."It's been a testing time, a trying time. We were very close to a great escape and it just wasn't to be. It's an experience I don't want ever again."Todd added his tribute to the Bolton fans who stood to cheer Chelsea on their lap of honour at the final whistle.
