6:10am Tuesday 4th November 2008
By Marc Iles
RICARDO Gardner finally helped Wanderers draw first blood and help turn the jeers into cheers at the Reebok.
The winger broke the deadlock with his first goal in nearly six years before forcing Richard Dunne into a late own goal to crank up the party atmosphere.
It was a shot in the arm for under-fire boss Gary Megson who was relieved to see his side finally get their noses in front.
“I have been saying for quite a while now that all our performances have needed was for us to score the first goal,” he said. “Today you saw that and you can see what I have been banging on about for the last few weeks.”
Megson had been targeted by the boo-boys during Wanderers’ last two games but could hear only loud applause as he left the pitch this time.
But the manager said he had not been panicking about their recent form despite results on Saturday putting the Whites temporarily to the foot of the Premier League table.
“We’re not Real Madrid by any stretch but we’re not that bad,” he said. “I don’t think we are playing like a side with no confidence. We took the game to City.
“For some reason, there has been a lot of negativity around this club for a while now.
“I have said that if there needs to be abuse, then it is better that I get it than the players but today the supporters have reacted to a really good, honest performance. Even if we had come in and lost that game, we couldn’t have asked any more of them.
“Now you find now that no-one is talking about the crowd, or formations or anything other than a really good Bolton performance.”
Megson and Wanderers have certainly endured their fair share of bad luck in the last few weeks, so there was a certain sense of justice felt by the manager when Gardner’s 76th minute goal was shown by television cameras to be marginally offside.
“I don’t know whether Ricardo’s goal was offside but I do know that Arsenal’s goal a couple of weeks back was offside, the penalty at Old Trafford wasn’t a penalty and Everton’s winning goal the other night was offside,” he said. “I was told then it was swings and roundabouts – so I suppose there’s your roundabouts.”
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