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Match Report
Bolton v Portsmouth 17 January 2004
DAVIES LIFTS GRITTY WANDERERS
Bolton 1-0 Portsmouth
Bolton moved into the top half of the table after a gritty 1-0 victory over Portsmouth - with a scrappy Kevin Davies goal the deciding factor in an untidy game.
Wanderers had been criticised in the previous week for their woeful defending - despite a 4-3 win away to Blackburn - and look determined not to concede to Portsmouth, whose misery was compounded by the late dismissal of Dejan Stefanovic.
The goal when it came was from one of the game's hardest workers, with the tireless Davies fully deserving some luck.
His outstretched boot only just scraped the ball as Nicky Hunt intelligently fired a pass across the six yard, but it was enough to roll the ball past the impressive Shaka Hislop and into the back of the net.
Portmouth will consider themselves unlucky not to have grabbed an equaliser through Yakubu Aiyegbeni - whose deflected shot smashed a post and rebounded to safety soon after Botlon's goal.
In fairness, but for Hislop Portsmouth could have been out of touch - the sprightly keeper saved brilliantly from Youri Djorkaeff minutes after the break when many in the stadium had already risen to applaud his top-corner-bound drive.
Hislop was also called into action in spectacular fashion when he denied Djorkseff with a brilliant reaction save from close range.
All this followed a first half virtually devoid of chances as the two sides probed and poked without committing too much forward.
Javi Moreno made his first start but did not really get into the game, Davies had fired a shot narrowly wide, and Hislop was down sharply to deny Ivan Campo.
Portsmouth will look to hitting the woodwork as an example of the bad luck that manager Harry Redknapp had cursed earlier this week, but in truth Bolton were the more deserving of the points.
Now in tenth position, Allardyce will now think his side have a very good chance of missing out on the relegation dogfight this season, but they will require greater quality against more creative sides.
Report From  , For full report and stats, click here.
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