Bolton Wanderers 1 Leeds United 2: Big match analysis
GOOD DAY FOR
Toumani Diagouraga: When did the Frenchman last find the net? March 2013. It was such an elephant in the room that Brentford’s fans used to shout for him to shoot from anywhere and everywhere. At Leeds? One full appearance and already one goal – although if truth be told, they won’t come much easier than Saturday’s. Mirco Antenucci laid it on a plate.
BAD DAY FOR
Bolton’s finances: The crowd at the Macron Stadium was relatively small and salvaged only by a massive away following. Bolton are seriously short of money and a lucrative tie in the fifth round would have done them a favour. But their performance and their inability to cope with United’s system had them in trouble early on and they never got a hold of the tie until the last 10 minutes.
KEY MOMENT
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Hide AdThe opening goal: No question about it, Ben Amos should have saved Souleymane Doukara’s shot but Leeds had been lively from the first whistle and it seemed likely that they would find a way through before long. Doukara’s goal gave United the initiative and Evans’ players were ruthless in making it pay. Only at the death was the result in doubt.
WHAT THEY SAID
Neil Lennon: “We conceded a sloppy first goal through a goalkeeping mistake. Ben Amos should have saved it and he has come in at half-time and held his hands up.”
Steve Evans: “I thought our performance was outstanding for 80 minutes but when you play as well as we played in the first half, as stunning as that, the concern you’ve got going down the tunnel is ‘this should be done, this should be four or five.’ That would have been justice to the performance.”