Wait for win is finally over for the Wanderers
BOLTON boss Neil Lennon breathed a sigh of relief after his side finally ended their 11-game winless run.
Liam Feeney crept in behind the Wolves defence and slammed the Trotters one up before Zach Clough doubled the lead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.
Former Bolton striker Benik Afobe pulled one back for the visitors with a penalty after the restart, but the hosts stood strong to record their first win of the season.
“I am more relieved than anything else,” Lennon said.
“We have been waiting for it for a while. I don’t think I have had a run like that in my career so it has been a very frustrating time.
“I always thought with the way that we have been playing that we would turn it around. I thought we deserved to win.
“The penalty that Wolves got was soft and it changed the psychology of the game for a while.
“It is very satisfying and the firsthalf performance was strong. We have played better and lost.”
Feeney opened the scoring with a clinical finish on 17 minutes after latching onto a long ball over the top.
A moment of madness from Ethan Ebanks-Landell seconds before half-time allowed Bolton to double their lead as he threw himself at Wellington Silva inside the penalty area and referee Scott Duncan pointed straight to the spot. Clough stepped up and duly slotted into the bottom corner.
Ebanks-Landell almost made amends on 52 minutes, but his header, from James Henry’s corner, rose narrowly over the crossbar.
Minutes later Afobe created a glorious chance for Wallace 12 yards out, but the midfielder fluffed his shot wide with the whole goal to aim at.
But the visitors’ persistence paid off when Prince-Desir Gouano fouled Adam Le Fondre in the box on 68 minutes and Duncan again pointed to the spot. And Afobe notched his fourth of the season.
A flurry of chances fell to both sides late on – the best to Bolton substitute Emile Heskey who smashed the ball straight against the body of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Wolves manager Kenny Jackett was left disappointed with the result rather than the performance.
“After a rocky 15 minutes we played well and dominated the end of the first half and had a real go in the second half to try and get back into the game,” he said.
“We will play worse than that and win games and get results.
“There was naivety in some situations, we just couldn’t find the final ball. “It was end-to-end.”