Moyes: Bolton Deserved Their Win

Gaffer reflects on disappointing defeat to Bolton.

Everton boss David Moyes gave a frank assessment of his side’s 2-1 defeat to struggling Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday night.

A freak goal by Tim Howard put the Blues in front just after the hour mark when he launched a long kick downfield and it bounced over Adam Bogdan and in.

But Bolton levelled at a blustery Goodison a few minutes later when David Ngog curled an effort past Howard from just inside the box, before Trotters captain Gary Cahill won it for the hosts with an angled drive.

“We didn’t deserve to be in front,” said Moyes. “Bolton deserved to win the game. I’ve got no qualms with the result; you can’t perform like that and expect to win.

“The conditions weren’t good but both teams had to play in it. It’s a little bit easier to play away from home when it’s like that as you have to make a bit of play, but we didn’t make any play tonight and as I said, I’ve got no arguments with the result.

“It was a freak that we were 1-0 up. We’d have taken it and we should have gone on and done better but we couldn’t hold onto it after that.”

He continued: “Give Bolton a bit of credit. They worked really hard to get the result, but we didn’t perform as well as we have been doing. Bolton stuck at it and got their rewards.”

Moyes opted for a 4-4-2 formation, with Louis Saha partnering Denis Stracqualursi up front, while Landon Donovan started on the right flank following his arrival on loan from LA Galaxy.

The boss reflected: “We tried to go with two centre-forwards, if we hadn’t some might have questioned it. Apart from the goalkeeper and bits from Landon it was hard to say much positive.”