MADINE ENDS THE BOLTON HOODOO
Blades cut down to size at the Lane
GARY Madine turned from pantomime villain to match-winning hero as relegation-haunted Bolton ended their away-day blues with a priceless victory.
The former Sheffield Wednesday forward soaked up the boos of the Bramall Lane faithful before tapping home a superb pass from Antonee Robinson in the 21st minute.
Goalkeeper Ben Alnwick made vital saves from Leon Clarke and Blades substitute George Baldock as stubborn Wanderers won a Championship away game for the first time in 1,000 days.
“Gary Madine was outstanding,” said Bolton manager Phil Parkinson. “He got the goal for us but I challenged him at halftime that I wanted that to be part of a winning performance and I was just as pleased with him in the second half.
“Psychologically this is a weight off our shoulders, winning away.
“We stuck at our job. The concentration and mentality levels were excellent.
“We threw in three or four players who hadn’t played much football and our subs all gave us a lift.
“I’m very pleased with the performance – now we need the same approach at Hull.”
The early stages resembled a game of head tennis with a splattering of free-kicks and abuse for Madine punctuating the lack of real action.
Play-off hopefuls United struggled throughout to get fully into their stride, relying on sheer weight of second-half pressure to attempt to rescue some reward. All Bolton’s defenders supported Alnwick excellently with Madine offering the occasional hint of danger on the break.
John Fleck volleyed wide from the edge of the box after Mark Duffy created United’s first moment of menace but it was Bolton who broke the deadlock three minutes later.
Robinson got around the back of a nervy Blades defence and squared across goal for Madine to tap home simply at the far post.
Blades manager Chris Wilder saw the unconvincing Cameron Carter-Vickers get away with a questionable penalty area challenge on Madine before making a first-half change.
And it was Baldock who nearly hauled United back on terms when his low shot was pushed away by Alnwick.
Clarke, the division’s leading scorer with 14 goals already, was sent clear on goal by Duffy in the 43rd minute but Alnwick made a crucial block with his legs.
Madine saw yellow for an aerial challenge on Richard Stearman but wriggled through minutes later to force Simon Moore into a rare save.
Defender Jack O’Connell glanced Duffy’s free-kick wide, but Bramall Lane was convinced an equaliser was imminent when Baldock’s 66thminute shot was somehow bundled to safety by Alnwick.
Clarke scooped over from point blank range deep in injury time as Wanderers held out through six added minutes.
Wilder said: “We dominated from box to box but we’ve got to put teams away.
“They started better than us, got a goal and turned it into the sort of game they wanted to play.
“They whacked it up to Gary Madine who was the best player in the game. He came in for some criticism but he was outstanding.
“We have got to be more ruthless.”