Bolton 2-1 West Ham: Two goals in two minutes kills Hammers
Published 00:00 22/02/09 By By Lindsay Sutton
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Bolton ripped West Ham apart with two blitzkrieg goals in one 95-second spell - but Irons' boss Gianfranco Zola couldn't believe his side had lost.
He said: "The only complaint I have is our slow start, along with the fact that we didn't take our chances.
"It's a pity, because our - performance deserved more but you can't afford to concede like that.
"It's a good lesson for us and we know what kind of team Bolton are.
"But no one would disagree when I say we played much better than that.
"Scott Parker was excellent and was all over the place..
He's got desire, passion and everything to play for." After Bolton's amazing attacking spell, which saw Matthew Taylor and Kevin Davies rock back the Hammers inside the first 11 minutes, the east Londoners threw everything at Wanderers.
Even Bolton boss Gary Megson was left wondering what happened after their double salvo dream start.
Megson admitted: "We seem incapable of going on to make it three or four after getting ourselves two up. It was the same against Blackburn and Spurs.
"There was an air of apprehension out there but it would be wrong to criticise because we won what I see as one of our biggest games this season.
"We have to have more confidence and belief about ourselves. We've some important games coming up but at least we've played seven of our eight against the top four." The shell-shock start by Bolton began when 20-year-old Jack Collison fouled Mark Davies just over 20 yards out.
Gavin McCann appeared to shape up to take the free-kick but it was the lurking Taylor who grabbed the glory.
The former Pompey man floated the ball over West Ham's defensive wall and beyond the reach of keeper Robert Green.
The free-kick was well struck but by no means unstoppable and question marks were raised as to whether the England keeper had it covered properly.
But 95 seconds later there was little Green could do to stop Bolton grabbing another priceless goal - with barely 11 minutes on the clock.
Swede Johan Elmander brushed aside his lack of match fitness, after being sidelined for four games through injury, to set up Kevin Davies.
Elmander switched direction brilliantly on the right side of goal to quickly release a low and direct pass to Davies just over six yards off the goal-line.
The quick-thinking Bolton striker relishes such situations and with two West Ham defenders on either side of him, he grabbed his chance to deflect the ball into the net for his 10th of the season Megson said: "Both goals were fantastic - and we're supposed to be a kick-and-rush side! "You will not see a better goal than the one scored by Taylor." He added: "Kevin's goal was so well worked. It's his best return ever for us and we've still a lot of the season to go." To their credit the Hammers didn't throw in the towel after the double whammy.
They pulled a goal back after 66 minutes when Parker steered home a lovely low pass supplied by Jonathan Spector and David Di Michele certainly should have done better with two further efforts.
He lost his way when he curled the ball wide of the post with only Jussi Jaaskelainen to beat, and again when Gary Cahill blocked another effort on the line.
It was tough on the Hammers, but full marks to Bolton for taking their chances..
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