Sport

Dickov adds to Bolton's worries

Bolton Wanderers - 0 Blackburn Rovers - 1: Paul Dickov emphasised his value to Blackburn yesterday by scoring his seventh goal…

Wed Dec 29 2004 - 00:00

Bolton Wanderers - 0 Blackburn Rovers - 1: Paul Dickov emphasised his value to Blackburn yesterday by scoring his seventh goal of the season at the Reebok Stadium.

The striker is being coveted by Birmingham but it is understandable why manager Mark Hughes is reluctant to let him leave.

Dickov's goal eased Rovers' relegation worries and doomed Bolton to a sixth straight defeat.

Blackburn made the breakthrough in the sixth minute with a wonderful piece of skill from Dickov. He fired a volley into the goal after Steven Reid had chested the ball down.

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Blackburn carved out another good chance in the 27th minute when Dickov cleverly set up Brett Emerton. He fired in a shot that was deflected to safety by Bruno N'Gotty.

Then Gary Speed fired in a powerful free-kick from an acute angle that visiting goalkeeper Brad Friedel punched clear.

Blackburn were growing in confidence and Garry Flitcroft tried to chip Jussi Jaaskelainen from distance only for the goalkeeper to be equal to his effort.

Bolton looked to have a chance of an equaliser on the stroke of half-time but Henrik Pedersen got only a slight touch to a teasing cross from El-Hadji Diouf.

Bolton looked more organised in the second half but confidence still appeared a problem.

Blackburn, however, were looking solid at the back and they looked content to sit back and soak up the pressure, which can sometimes be a dangerous game.

Kevin Davies had a good chance of grabbing the equaliser in the 82nd but could only flick a header wide in front of the posts following a corner.

Reid should have added a second on full-time but steered a shot wide from close range after good work by Dickov.

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, N'Gotty, Jaidi, Gardner, Okocha, Speed (Hierro 72), Giannakopoulos (Ferdinand 76), Pedersen (Vaz Te 52), Davies, Diouf. Subs Not Used: Poole, Barness. Booked: Vaz Te, Jaidi.

BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Johansson, Matteo, Reid, Flitcroft, Ferguson, Emerton, Dickov, Bothroyd (Stead 25). Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Gallagher, Thompson, McEveley. Booked: Ferguson, Flitcroft. Goal: Dickov 6.

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).