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Falkirk 0 Wanderers 0

Posted on: Sat 31 Jul 2010

Wanderers were pushed all the way by a stubborn Falkirk team as the first match of the mini-tour of Scotland finished goalless.

Despite the stalemate with the Scottish First Division Club, there was plenty for Manager Owen Coyle to be pleased about.

Adam Bogdan kept his third clean sheet of pre-season, while Chung-Yong Lee got through an hour's worth of action in his first start since reporting back from World Cup duty.

Countless opportunities were created by the Whites as their sharpness, movement and passing was stepped up a level.

And it was only an excellent performance by goalkeeper Robert Olejnik and a well organised Falkirk defence that prevented Wanderers from grabbing a decisive winning goal.

The closest Bolton came was when Johan Elmander clipped the outside of the post shortly before half-time.

The first-half was a fairly balanced contest with Wanderers fashioning the better goalscoring opportunities.

Ricardo Gardner, making his first start since the opening friendly of pre-season against Charlotte, saw a couple efforts fly just wide of the upright either side of the ten minute mark, while captain Gary Cahill had a close-range header deflected wide of the post by Medhdi Khalis.

The strike force of Robbie Blake and Johan Elmander looked especially threatening throughout.

After heading over the bar on 27 minutes, the Swedish striker came within a whisker away from breaking the deadlock when he struck the outside of the post minutes before half-time following Sam Ricketts' flick-on.

Earlier the industrious Blake, who was at the centre of most attacking moves, fired a free-kick fractionally over the bar after the former Burnley man had been bundled to the floor 20 yards out.

Falkirk's best chance inside the first period fell to Ryan Flynn in the latter stages of the half, but Andy O'Brien was in the right place to make a clearance.

The second-half was a similar story with plenty of action and endeavour, but no cutting edge by either team in front of goal.

Just before the hour mark Owen Coyle made his first changes of the game with Joey O'Brien, Tamir Cohen and Danny Ward replacing Mark Davies, Ricardo Gardner and Sean Davis.

Four minutes later Kevin Davies was also brought into the fray. His first touch was in fact a header just wide of the target after a neat build-up involving Chung-Yong and Cahill.

Falkirk forged a few decent openings in the second-half notably when Flynn broke free and dragged his shot wide, while Mark Stewart twice brought decent saves from Adam Bogdan, who again did what was asked of him.

Predicatbly, more substitutions ensued as wingers Martin Petrov and Riga were brought on. There was also a debut for the much travelled striker Kenny Deuchar as he replaced Jack Compton for the Bairns.

The Torquay-born winger had caught the eye in his 70 minutes of action, causing several problems for Wanderers defence with his pace and trickery.

Shortly before being withdrawn, Chung-Yong should have hit the mark after being presented with the ball by Danny Ward, who again gave Owen Coyle food for thought with an energetic 30 minute cameo.

However, having collected the cross, the South Korean fizzed his volley over the bar when he should have at least worked Robert Olejnik.

Wanderers continued to press and with ten minutes remaining, the Bairns' keeper was forced to make a vital save to prevent Riga from grabbing his first goal for the Whites.

The substitute was well poised to tap in at the far post when Ricketts delivered a testing cross from the right, but the Austrian stuck out a hand to intercept the delivery.

Olejnik was determined to keep a clean sheet in Falkirk's last friendly of pre-season and so it proved to be.

He made another good save to deny Kevin Davies with ten minutes remaining before Martin Petrov smashed a free-kick high and wide with virtually the last kick of the game.

With more minutes in their legs, Wanderers now move on to Perth, where they will meet manager Owen Coyle's former side St Johnstone on Monday evening.

Falkirk: Olejnik, Marr (Duffie 75), Scobbie, McLean, Khalis (Twaddle 90), O'Brien, Higginbotham, Millar (McLeish 75), Stewart, Flynn, Compton (Deuchar 70) (Subs:, Mitchell, Bloom, Barclay, Bonar)

Bolton: Bogdan, Ricketts, Andy O'Brien, Cahill, Samuel, Chung-Yong (Petrov 66), Davis (Cohen 58), Mark Davies (Joey O'Brien 58), Gardner (Ward 58), Blake (Riga 74), Elmander (Kevin Davies 62) (Subs not used: Jaaskelainen, Knight, Robinson, Taylor, Basham, Holden, Muamba)