Report: Wanderers 2-0 Charlton
Wanderers secured a 2-0 victory against Charlton Athletic, with substitute David Ngog scoring both goals. The striker rose from the bench just after the hour mark and put the Londoners to the sword with a well taken brace.
There were two enforced changes to the side that drew at Huddersfield seven days ago. Mark Davies and Matt Mills missed out with shoulder and hamstring injuries respectively, meaning Tyrone Mears and Jacob Butterfield returned to the starting 11.
The opening stages of the game were cagey, but Wanderers had the first real chance after nine minutes. Chung-Yong Lee played a neat one-two with Chris Eagles, moving into the area, but was always stretching to get on the end of the pull-back and his shot dragged wide of the right-hand post.
The home side, again lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, enjoyed plenty of possession in the opening 45, but were constantly kept on their toes by a Charlton side that were dangerous on the counter-attack.
And the Whites were almost caught out in the 26th minute, when Danny Haynes surged through the middle. He got the wrong side of the Bolton backline and it required a fine sliding intervention from Mears to avert the danger.
On the half hour mark, Eagles came close to opening the scoring, running at pace down the left and breaking into the area to get a shot away. It wasn’t the purest of contacts but the ball trickled towards the far post and had to be hacked clear for a corner.
From the resulting set piece, Kevin Davies flicked a header on and Eagles, who was at the far post, again went close; bringing the ball down and firing a fierce shot at the Charlton goal which Ben Hamer could only parry.
The game began to open up and with ten minutes to go until half time, Bolton were given a real let-off when Haynes squandered the best chance of the half. His strike partner Yann Kermorgant started the move with a lovely through ball out to Lawrie Wilson on the right and he floated his cross to the back stick where Haynes met the ball with his head, but nodded wide.
The Addicks again went close minutes later, as another long ball over the top wasn’t dealt with. Kermorgant got the better of Zat Knight and hit an early shot at Adam Bogdan, which forced the Hungarian into a smart save down to his left.
The second half began, as the first, with very little in the way of clear cut opportunities for either team. With just over an hour on the clock, Dougie Freedman made a double change with Ngog and Martin Petrov replacing Butterfield and Lee respectively.
On 74 minutes the substitution paid dividends, as Ngog made it 1-0. Jay Spearing threaded a clever pass through to the Frenchman inside the area and, with his back to goal, he turned his marker to create enough space to fire a low shot in the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
With ten minutes left to play he was at it again. Receiving a pass from Chris Eagles, Ngog exchanged passes with Kevin Davies before moving the ball onto his right foot and blasting a powerful finish towards goal that Hamer couldn’t keep out.
The lead could have been extended at the death when Eagles hit a low free kick that Hamer gathered at the second attempt but the match finished 2-0, moving Dougie Freedman’s men up the table.
Wanderers:Bogdan, Mears, Ricketts, Knight, Warnock, Andrews, Spearing, Lee (Petrov 63), Butterfield (Ngog 63), Eagles, K. Davies (Unused substitutes: Lonergan, Alonso, Ream, Pratley, Afobe)
Charlton Athletic: Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Dervite, Seabourne, Frimpong (Cook 83), Wilson, Stephens, Jackson, Haynes (Wright-Phillips 82), Kermorgant (Unused substitutes: Button, Cort, Pritchard, Kerkar, Hulse)