Manchester: An entertaining game all-round ended in the favour of Manchester City after Bolton Wanderers proved more than a match for Roberto Mancini's expensively assembled side on Sunday. The game also marked the return to action for Carlos Tevez after voicing his desire to leave in the summer.
Both teams set out to attack and this desire to score resulted in the five goals and a game which was thrilling from start to finish.
City's attacking prowess is well known but Bolton were more than a match in effort and team-work; such qualities were important for Owen Coyle's side to maintain an interest in the contest.
Bolton’s determination was key in them starting the better of the two sides. Persistence earned a free-kick for Wanderers after four minutes which Chris Eagles stepped up for. His dipping effort from the left was uncharacteristically fumbled by Joe Hart, and were it not for a quick clearance from Joleon Lescott, Bolton could have taken an early and deserved lead.
Chances kept coming for Wanderers and another City mistake, this time a poor header from Vincent Kompany, was the prelude to Zat Knight firing narrowly wide.
The momentum was all with Bolton until this point, but City, holding firm, were still creating openings. An Edin Dzeko cross from the right presented Sergio Aguero with the chance to open the scoring but the Argentine somehow fired over the bar. Following his explosive debut on Monday night, everyone at the Reebok would have bet on him scoring, but alas, it was not coming and Roberto Mancini was visibly stunned at the miss.
City’s dominance was now coming to the fore and Bolton had to abandon their own attacking initiatives to maintain the parity. The constant pressure City were applying paid dividends from a harmless looking throw in after Micah Richards worked the ball inside before centring into the feet of David Silva whose sharp ball control resulted in a long range effort which fooled Jussi Jaaskelainen with its swerve.
The replays were not kind to the Finn as it showed a failure in technique to get his body behind the ball and prevent the goal.
City now had steam in their step now and had it not been for a shove from Richards, Aguero would have made it two after half an hour. The England international was judged to have been too physical in his challenge with Martin Petrov before he crossed for Aguero.
The unexpected inaccuracy from Aguero continued five minutes later when he headed wide right of the Bolton net leaving the City fans behind the goal cursing their luck once more.
An unlikely source scored the second for City with Gareth Barry smashing the ball high into the corner following a clever pass from James Milner. The move begun from a corner which saw Bolton pack the box only for Milner to see the space outside the area and exploit it fully by passing towards Barry who slammed in to give City a deserved two goal lead.
Bolton made an immediate response with Ivan Klasnic making the most of a Petrov cross by showing the greater awareness to beat Lescott to the ball to bring Wanderers back to within one and they thoroughly deserved to be trailing by only a single goal.
After the half-time break City continued to hunt for a third goal and they were rewarded within 90 seconds when a fluffed defensive clearance from Zat Knight was seized upon by the Bosnian Dzeko, to beat Jaaskelainen low to his right to make it three. Dzeko’s first season in England wasn’t what City fans were expecting but so far this term, he has played with the freedom confidence brings.
Going two goals down could have killed the spirit and derring-do of Bolton, but the resilience of Owen Coyle’s side is commendable and this tenacity brought them back into the game once more as skipper Kevin Davies’ leap over Lescott from a free-kick directed the ball in off the post to keep Wanderers in the contest.
With Bolton keeping up with City Mancini decided a change was needed and he shocked many with his choice of substitution. Aguero was brought off, and Carlos Tevez made his first appearance for City since his public plea to leave Etihad Stadium. The reactions was mixed as to be expected, but the City fans were full of cheer whilst it was the Bolton fans who were of the opposite opinion. One suspects he could receive similar treatment from many opposing fans this season.
The result leaves Mancini's side with two wins from two and having scores seven in the process and sends the message that City are always likely to score and that Carlos Tevez still has a future at the club.
Bolton, on the other hand will, if they replicate the performance, pick off many sides and prove to be one of the stronger sides in the division.
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