Match Report: Bolton 1 – Chelsea 5
Frank Lampard made it four goals in a week at the Reebok Stadium scoring a hat trick as we beat hapless Bolton to reclaim third spot in the Premier League table.
Fresh from his goal against Valencia in Wednesday’s Champions League 1-1 draw Lamps silenced his critics once more with a master class in finishing with teammate Daniel Sturridge also scoring twice against his former club.
A first half double from the deadly duo meant we led 4-0 after half an hour before Dedryck Boyata pulled one back for the Trotters a minute after the restart.
Lampard then completed his hat trick compounding a miserable afternoon for Owen Coyle and in particular stand in goalkeeper Adam Bogdan who was at fault for two of our goals.
It was Sturridge, in for the suspended Fernando Torres, who got us up and running. With just 90 seconds of the game gone he headed home Juan Mata’s corner from close range to mark his return to the club where he spent six months on loan last season in style and then respectfully declined to celebrate.
Ramires and Mata in midfield combined with Sturridge’s movement was too much for the Trotters and it was no surprise when Lampard made it 2-0 after just 15 minutes sweeping home the strikers cutback from 10 yards out. By now we had settled into a steady rhythm with Bolton unable to get the ball up to strikers David N’Gog and Kevin Davies who were being effectively snubbed out by John Terry and David Luiz.
Davies picked up his customary booking midway through the first half after a rash tackle on Luiz.
Two minutes of madness then saw Bogdan’s afternoon turn sour with the Hungarian keeper making two glaring errors allowing Sturridge and Lampard to double their tallies.
It was Daniel who scored first seeing his speculative effort on from 20 yards pushed into the roof of the net by Bogdan after trying to tip the ball away at the near post. Lampard then capitalised on another mistake pouncing to tap the ball home from inside the six yard box after the 24-year-old allowed Luiz’s shot to bounce off his chest to make it 4-0 after 27 minutes.
Bolton fans sat in stunned silence and dismay as they watched their team struggle to make any impact and they must have feared the worse for the second half.
However, we took our foot off gas with just a minute gone when Boyata powered a header past Petr Cech after some good work from Martin Petrov down the left.
Frank Lampard completing his treble on the hour mark playing a neat give and go with Didier Droga before cooly slotting past Bogdan to restore our four goal advantage.
Bolton should have had a second goal after Davies toe poke appeared to cross the line despite Branislav Ivanovic’s attempts to keep it out only for referee Peter Walton to rule it out.
Sturridge then had the chance to score his own hat trick dragging his shot wide from Drogba‘s pullback.
It didn’t matter though as we finished the game comfortable winners and made it 16 without loss against Bolton.
The players will now go their separate ways for the International Break with a return to Stamford Bridge in 2 weeks’ time against Everton.
Gill Reeves – CSG disabled rep.
Bolton
• 01 Bogdan
• 02 Steinsson (Knight 46)
• 04 Robinson
• 05 Cahill
• 25 Boyata
• 10 Petrov
• 11 Gardner (Eagles 74)
• 19 Reo-Coker
• 21 Pratley
• 14 Davies
• 24 Ngog – yellow card (Tuncay 74)
Substitutes
• 26 Lainton,
• 12 Knight,
• 06 Muamba,
• 07 Eagles,
• 16 M Davies,
• 37 Vela,
• 09 Tuncay
Chelsea
• 01 Cech
• 03 Cole
• 04 David Luiz – yellow card
• 17 Bosingwa (Ivanovic 53)
• 26 Terry – yellow card
• 07 Ramires (Mikel 56)
• 08 Lampard
• 16 Meireles
• 10 Mata (Anelka 72)
• 11 Drogba
• 23 Sturridge
Substitutes
• 22 Turnbull,
• 02 Ivanovic,
• 06 Romeu,
• 12 Mikel,
• 15 Malouda,
• 18 Lukaku,
• 39 Anelka
Ref: Walton
Att: 24,657
