December 29, 2003

Match Report - Liverpool 3 Bolton 1 Liverpool took the heat off manager Gerard Houllier with a 3-1 win over Bolton at Anfield. Sami Hyypia had settled early nerves with a powerful header past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the first half. Two more headed goals in the opening minutes of the second period from Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Vladimir Smicer gave Liverpool some much-needed breathing space. Substitute Henrik Pedersen pulled a late goal back for Bolton, but they were unable to end a record which has seen them fail to win a league match at Anfield for 50 years. The only shot for either side early on was a 20-yard free-kick by Steven Gerrard which flew into Jaaskelainen's arms after a foul by Emerson Thome on Sinama-Pongolle. Liverpool were enjoying a period of dominance and a swirling free-kick from John Arne Riise saw Vladimir Smicer send a glancing header inches wide, before Hyypia had a 12-yard drive blocked by Simon Charlton following a Gerrard corner. Liverpool's greater attacking desire produced a goal for Hyypia after 30 minutes. Kevin Davies' block stopped Kewell's cross and from Danny Murphy's corner, the big defender powered into the box to send a soaring header crashing past Jaaskelainen. Sinama-Pongolle should have given Liverpool some breathing space when Smicer sent him clear, but he snatched at his shot and gave Jaaskelainen the chance to block the effort. The youngster made up for that miss a minute after the break. Riise got away down the left and when his cross came into the six-yard box, the Frenchman evaded his markers to bullet a header past Jaaskelainen. Liverpool grabbed their third after 54 minutes. Per Frandsen had been booked for a nasty foul on Gerrard and from Murphy's free-kick, Smicer ran into the six-yard box unmarked to head home. Nicky Hunt was booked for bringing down Riise in full flow and Liverpool replaced Smicer with Anthony Le Tallec before Murphy was able to lift the free-kick into the box. Gerrard lunged forward to send the ball over the bar. With five minutes left Pedersen scored from close range after Liverpool had failed to clear Ricardo Gardner's cross-shot. source: Ananova

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home