Bolton Wanderers 1 Blackburn Rovers 2:There was a clenched fist when Jason Roberts scored a 90th-minute winner followed by a wave to the travelling supporters moments later, but Mark Hughes had no intention of spelling out his long-term commitment to Blackburn Rovers yesterday.
Installed now as the favourite to replace Sam Allardyce at St James' Park, the Blackburn manager passed up the chance to pledge his future to Ewood Park as he tiptoed around "speculation" surrounding his name afterwards.
Little can be said for certain about the Welshman's next move, although if he does swap Blackburn for Newcastle there is no doubt his replacement will inherit a far better side than the one Hughes would take over. Blackburn are only three points adrift of a Champions League place after a victory which demonstrated their belligerence as well as their quality. Behind at the interval after Kevin Nolan's breathtaking goal, Rovers deserved this third successive win.
The victory extended Blackburn's unbeaten league run at Bolton to seven matches and, in the process, dragged Gary Megson's side into greater peril. Bolton are now one of three teams level on points with Sunderland in the relegation zone and, on this evidence, life without Nicolas Anelka promises to be uncomfortable. This was Bolton's first league match since their leading scorer departed and Kevin Davies is clearly no replacement.
That Roberts grabbed the winning goal here only compounded Megson's frustration. It was four years ago to the day that the Bolton manager - then in charge of West Bromwich Albion - sold the forward to Portsmouth after a row. Megson admitted afterwards that "we had a girlie tiff" - something that was perhaps uppermost in Roberts's mind when he appeared to point a finger in the Bolton's manager's direction as he celebrated.
"I don't know what the position is with Jason in terms of mine and his relationship," said Megson, responding to a suggestion that he might be interested in signing the unsettled forward.
Racing on to Roque Santa Cruz's flick on, the striker sprinted more than 50 yards, shrugging off Nolan, evading Davies and outpacing Gavin McCann before drilling a right-footed shot that deflected off Joey O'Brien and beat Jussi Jaaskelainen at the near post. There was no time for Bolton to respond and Nolan's splendid goal became no more than a memory.
Shaping his body, Nolan watched O'Brien's cross on to his right boot before sweeping a volley from the left side of the penalty area into the top corner. That might have freed up Bolton, who had been predictably one-dimensional, but on 53 minutes Rovers were level as Christopher Samba climbed above Lubomir Michalik to thud a powerful header into the ground and over Danny Guthrie's head.
Rovers were now in the ascendancy. But when Morten Gamst Pedersen dragged his shot wide from eight yards, David Bentley's free-kick was turned around the post and when Roberts saw Andy O'Brien block his shot it looked as though Bolton might escape with a point. But Roberts had other ideas.
