Bolton v Stoke City

Many people are blaming the referee for Ivan Klasnic's eventful yet brief appearance on Saturday, particularly his flurry of yellow cards and resulting dismissal.  But I really don't see that the referee did anything wrong.  Klasnic (pictured, left) probably should have been sent off for grabbing a Stoke player by the throat before his first yellow.  He was out of control and has only himself to blame.

But back to the football itself.  This was a great game to watch, open and attacking on both sides.  And Bolton were able to grab all three points at the end following Klasnic's superb finish.  I suspect this may be the Croatian hitman's best role, that of a super sub in the final half hour or so.  In all honesty, I would rather see Kevin Davies make way for Klasnic at about the 70 minute mark, but we are unlikely to see a Johann Elmander and Klasnic partnership anytime soon.



This was a great three points for Bolton though, we've made it through a challenging run of fixtures (Manchester United, Aston Villa, Arsenal), and it is important that we take maximum points, especially at home, against clubs that are going to be around us in the table.  It's Wigan away next Saturday, then a tough run of Liverpool, Spurs, Everton.  You have to figure that all three are eventually going to put a good run together, let's just hope those runs start after we have played them.