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Oldham 3 Wanderers 0

Posted on: Thu 29 Jul 2010

Wanderers' unbeaten pre-season run came to an end as a Tom Eaves inspired Oldham Athletic ran out 3-0 winners at Boundary Park.

The first-half substitute grabbed a clinical hat-trick as Owen Coyle's side succumbed to their first defeat in their fifth friendly since reporting back from the summer break.

Oldham were two goals ahead at half-time before Eaves grabbed his third of the evening shortly after the restart.

A late rally almost saw Wanderers register a goal or two, but the closest they came was when Petrov struck the crossbar ten minutes from the end.

The Bulgarian, along with Gary Cahill, Zat Knight, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Paul Robinson all completed 90 minutes ahead of the opener against Fulham in 17 days time.

Wanderers survived a couple of early scares as Zat Knight came within inches of conceding penalty when he brought down nippy forward Warren Feeney right on the edge of the box, while fellow striker Ryan Brooke curled just wide of Jaaskelainen's right-hand post.

Bolton too had a couple of half-chances early doors as Matt Taylor's speculative shot from 30 yards stung the palms of goalkeeper Dean Brill and Joey O'Brien saw a floating header drift the wrong side of the post from a tight angle.

Paul Dickov was forced to make his first change of the game midway through the first-half when Warren Feeney limped from the field, but instead of choosing himself to replace the injured forward, Tom Eaves was cast into the action.

And that decision by the Oldham boss was rewarded almost instantly as the substitute fired the League One club into the lead just two minutes after his introduction.

The trainee picked the ball up 20 yards from goal and his finish across goal was good enough to beat Jaaskelainen's dive and find the far corner of the net.

It was to get even better for Eaves as four minutes before the interval he bundled the ball over the line from close-range to double the hosts' lead. It had looked like the striker had been crowded out but he somehow managed to squeeze the ball between Jaaskelainen and the near post.

The second goal had arrived moments after Martin Petrov had skimmed the roof of the net with a free-kick from just outside the box, which was Wanderers' only real chance after a lively start to the game.

Gretar Steinsson was given the chance to step up his fitness following summer knee surgery with another 45 minute run-out after replacing Sam Ricketts at half-time. There were also introductions for Mark Davies and Johan Elmander as Joey O'Brien and Stuart Holden made way.

Ten minutes after the restart, Tom Eaves completed his hat-trick after finishing off a swift counter-attack by Lewis Alessandra.

Jussi Jaaskelainen advanced from his goal to narrow the angle but when Brooke squared across goal then Eaves converted from ten yards out.

Chung-Yong Lee, back with the club after an extended summer break, made his first appearance of pre-season on the hour mark as Owen Coyle looked to inject a fresh impetus into his team with a further three substitutions.

And there was a much improved final 30 minutes by Wanderers as firstly the South Korean winger drilled wide following a deep cross from Petrov shortly after being thrown into the fray.

Petrov himself almost broke the bar in two with a fierce shot from a tight angle and Elmander forced goalkeeper Dean Brill into his finest save of the evening two minutes from time.

But Oldham's rearguard held firm and Wanderers had to accept defeat before they head north of the border where they will face Falkirk and Owen Coyle's former club St Johnstone in a weekend double-header.

Oldham: Brill, Lee (Holdsworth 70), Black, Furman, Hazell (Carr), Jarrett, Jones (Bembo-Leta 68), Stephens, Brooke (Dickov 74), Feeney (Eaves 23), Alessandra (Subs not used: Abbott, Fleming, Kompany, Dickov)

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Ricketts (Steinsson 46), Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Joey O'Brien (Mark Davies 46), Holden (Elmander 46), Muamba (Cohen 60), Petrov, Kevin Davies (Blake 70), Taylor (Chung-Yong 60) (Subs not used: Andy O'Brien, Samuel , Gardner, Riga, Bogdan)