What The Papers Say - Jan 5

For Bolton, at last, it is an ill-wind that blows some good.

But not before Owen Coyle's side thought their incredible misfortune this season had plumbed new depths when they trailed to the most remarkable gale-assisted goal from Everton keeper Tim Howard.

It was an impossible goal, the most unlikely finish of this or many a season, and the visitors could have been forgiven for being simply blown away by such a ridiculously malevolent force of nature.

Yet, shaken by the cruelty of the gods, they for once defied the impossible bad luck that has flattened their campaign, and set about creating a whirlwind of their own that ultimately provided only their second, perhaps crucial, away win.

And just for good measure, their winner was scored by defender Gary Cahill, who put aside his impending departure to make what could be one final massive contribution to the club.

A victory seemed the most unlikely prospect though when Howard managed the first goal of his illustrious career, and quite possibly the most remarkable this famous old stadium has witnessed.

Fielding a back-pass from defender Sylvain Distin, he launched a kick upfield from within his own box, and watched in studied amazement as the wind caught hold of the ball on the bounce outside the visiting area, to carry it in an impossible, insane arc over Adam Bogdan in the visiting goal.

That came in the 63rd minute, and seemed to sum up Bolton's desperately unlucky season.

Given their form in recent weeks, a comeback seemed an impossibility, with an incredulous Blues boss David Moyes wondering how that stroke of huge fortune didn't seal the game.

"It was a freak we were leading, but we should have taken it and defended it. Give Bolton credit though, they worked hard for their result and we didn't play anywhere near as well as we have been," he said.

"I have no qualms about the result, we didn't deserve to be in front, and Bolton deserved to win. We cannot perform like that - it is hard to see any positives from us."

Maybe Bolton were roused by the sheer perversity of the situation, because their anger translated into a remarkable fightback, and within four minutes they were level.

Mark Davies' ball found its way to David Ngog via a poor Louis Saha attempt at a block, and the former Liverpool man finished perfectly for only his second goal for his new club.

If that seemed unlikely, then Cahill proved that the ill wind isn't blowing in just one direction for Wanderers.

He has been the subject of much fevered speculation over a move to Chelsea and latterly Spurs - with their boss Harry Redknapp an interested spectator at Goodison.

Many thought he shouldn't even play, but he proved his value to the club he skippers by popping up 12 minutes from time to move onto a fine reverse pass from Chris Eagles to finish emphatically from close range.

As boss Coyle said afterwards, Cahill epitomised the spirit of his team, despite the setback.

"It was one of the flukiest goals I have ever seen in football, and I thought the incredible bad luck we had in 2011 had carried on into 2012," said Coyle.

"But the players showed incredible belief. We could have folded with that sort of misfortune, but we showed remarkable spirit, and I don't think, freak goal or not, anyone could deny we deserved the victory.

"When you are in the bottom three, the stigma that comes with it you have to deal with it, but this victory makes us believe we can get out of the bottom three. We don't feel we should be there, but what we have to do now is get a run together."

Everton entered the game on the back of an unbeaten run that had stretched out over a month, and seen them rise to a respectable ninth in the table.

Yet their tally of just four goals over that period spoke not of a side on the ascendancy, but one grinding out results as winter's bitter chill took an icy hold.

And so it was in this terse affair - made worse for the home side by worrying injuries to Phil Jagielka, who left the ground on crutches, and Jack Rodwell.

With the wind howling off the Mersey and bringing with it a serious amount of debris strewn across the pitch, the game had a feel of the derelict, which both sides struggled to shrug off.

There was so little action in the opening period you worried about the health of the goalkeepers rooted in the cruel gale that took hold of the long night, with neither tested beyond the limits of the mundane.

Eventually, Howard's astonishing feat blew life into the game, and ultimately into Bolton's fight against relegation, even if Coyle admitted it will almost certainly be waged without Cahill, despite a suggestion of the deal with Chelsea breaking down.

"There are no problems with the deal. We have agreed a fee with Chelsea, and there has been one meeting between Gary's representative and Chelsea," he said.

"Like all talks, it was an opening gambit. They have gone away to consider it.

"It is up to Mr Abramovich to sanction whatever he feels Gary is worth, but apparently he is away somewhere in the world at the moment.

"I wish him all the best if he leaves. He's an outstanding player and I understand if he wants to now further his career at an elite club."

KEEPER Tim Howard put the wind up Bolton with a freak 92-yard goal for Everton.

The Toffees' stopper hit a clearance from the edge of his area, which bounced 30 yards from Bolton's net and was blown over the head of Adam Bogdan in the visitors' goal.

American Howard joined Peter Schmeichel, Paul Robinson and Brad Friedel as goal-scoring Premier League keepers.

But his 63rd-minute strike was in vain as Bolton hit back with goals from David Ngog and Gary Cahill.

Cahill's winner lifted the Trotters off the bottom of the Premier League and could have been a farewell gift, with the £7million-rated England centre-half being chased by Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs.

Bolton boss Owen Coyle said: "Their goal was the flukiest one I have ever seen in football and it could have knocked the stuffing out of many teams.

"But we didn't allow that to happen and made our game in hand count."

Everton chief David Moyes said: "It was a freak that we were 1-0 up.

"But give Bolton credit — they worked hard for the result and we didn't play anywhere near as well as we have been."

GARY CAHILL gave Bolton the perfect goodbye gift to take the wind out of Tim Howard’s sails.

The Bolton defender is in talks over a move to Chelsea this month but there was no slacking last night as he delivered the winner to lift Bolton off the bottom of the Premier League.

He also took the spotlight from Everton keeper Howard who had given his side the lead with a freak wind-assisted 80-yard goal.

Howard’s moment of glory came after 63 minutes. Team-mate Sylvain Distin played a back pass and the American keeper’s clearance from inside his own box bounced deep in the Bolton half and over a stunned Adam Bogdan.

Howard was beaten himself four minutes later as Bolton recovered to equalise.

David Ngog rounded Everton defender Johnny Heitinga and the former Liverpool striker struck a left-foot shot into the corner of the net.

Bolton took the lead with 12 minutes remaining. Chris Eagles crossed into the box and Cahill fired home from an acute angle.

After seeing his team string together a run of four matches without defeat, Everton boss David Moyes put the emphasis on attack.

He had two players up front with Louis Saha and Denis Stracqualursi giving Bolton’s defenders plenty to worry about.

Cahill, the target of a £7m bid from Chelsea, was a busy man.

Only 29,561 fans turned up, the lowest home league crowd in the 10-year reign of Moyes.

But they saw Saha and Stracqualursi go close in the opening 15 minutes.

Argentine marksman Stracqualursi was first out of the traps after 12 minutes after being put into a cracking position by the returning Landon Donovan.

Donovan, playing his first game since returning to the club on loan from LA Galaxy, crossed brilliantly from the right wing and Stacqualursi hammered a right foot shot that flashed wide of a post.

Then from a Leighton Baines cross, Saha failed with a weak effort.

Everton had rock-bottom Bolton on the ropes and came close to finding the net in the 35th minute, with the dangerous Leon Osman sending a shot flashing past Bogden.

Everton had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down when Sam Ricketts appeared to push Donovan to the floor.

Bolton almost went ahead in first-half injury time after a botched clearance from Howard.

His kick was intercepted by Nigel Reo-Coker and pumped back into the penalty area. Ngog fired goalwards but Howard brilliantly punched the danger away.

In the last minute Baines hit the bar for Everton from a free-kick but Bolton survived.#

If this was Gary Cahill's final act in a Bolton Wanderers shirt, and Owen Coyle gave no indication it will not be, he left a precious parting gift. The coveted defender cast aside doubt over his future to lift his current club off the foot of the Premier League with a deserved late winner over a windswept and woeful Everton.

Whatever money Chelsea or perhaps the watching Harry Redknapp pay for Cahill, it cannot come close to matching his value towards Bolton's prospects of survival.

Until 12 minutes from time, when Cahill angled Chris Eagles' reverse pass into the far corner of the Everton net, the night belonged to Tim Howard as he joined the exclusive band of goalkeepers to score from their own half. Hopes of an increased American threat at Goodison Park had centred on the returning Landon Donovan but it was the USA goalkeeper who provided the breakthrough when his clearance from a Sylvain Distin back-pass sailed over the Bolton defence, bounced and caught on the breeze, then sailed over the goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.

Adhering to the goalkeepers' union rules, Howard refused to celebrate. "I feel for him. I have been beaten by a goalkeeper before and it is quite awful," he said. By the end, with his side third from bottom and a point behind QPR, only Owen Coyle and his players had reason to.

"There's no doubt that was one of the freakiest goals I've ever seen in football," the Bolton manager said. "I feared the bad luck we had in 2011 had carried over into 2012 but I thought we would come back because of the way we were playing. It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves but the players showed real belief." None more so than the England defender, who could become a Chelsea player within days, providing personal terms are agreed.

Cahill was commanding in his natural habitat and decisive in attack but, despite the precariousness of Bolton's league position and the slender resources available to Coyle, the Scot will not stand in the way of a possible lucrative move for a player who is out of contract in the summer. "It is what it is," Coyle said. "If Gary goes, I will wish him nothing but the best and we will go from there," Coyle said. "He was magnificent. Quite apart from the football aspect, you have to admire his attitude when you have got a club of Chelsea's stature after him. To be fair to Chelsea, they have not tried to press us. They knew we had a massive game this week. It may happen in the next few days but there is a lot of interest in Gary."

That Howard provided Everton's greatest threat all night once again highlighted the deficiencies in David Moyes' ranks. The Everton manager continues to place his trust in Louis Saha and continues to be let down by the striker, though Moyes is hardly blessed with alternatives and the Frenchman was not alone in his inability to adapt to the wild conditions. Bolton's players showed few such problems.

Donovan, back for a second loan spell from LA Galaxy, provided Everton's only attacking impetus and the home side would have been as fortunate as Howard had been to bank all three points.

With Goodison still reverberating from his goal, however, the former Liverpool striker David Ngog ended a fine team move with a polished finish. Everton lost Phil Jagielka to a medial knee ligament injury, then the substitute Jack Rodwell within 18 minutes of his arrival, and then saw Leighton Baines strike the bar in stoppage time from a free-kick. But there were no complaints. "We cannot perform like that and expect to win," Moyes said.

TIM HOWARD admitted Everton FC’s players were speechless after their crushing defeat by Premier League strugglers Bolton at Goodison Park.

The Blues took the lead via a freak second half goal from their USA goalkeeper, when his punt upfield bounced over opposite number Adam Bogdan, but Wanderers responded with two goals to take the spoils on a wind-battered night.

To compound Everton’s woes Phil Jagielka was forced off with an injury to his right knee, and is believed to have left the ground on crutches – while Jack Rodwell also departed the contest early for the second consecutive game with a hamstring problem.

But Howard said there can be no excuses for the woeful performance that saw Everton’s mini-unbeaten run ended by Owen Coyle’s relegation-haunted side.

He said: “We need to look at ourselves in the mirror because it wasn’t good enough, we were all kind of lost for words.

“It was very poor and that’s why we’re all so bitterly disappointed. At the very least we needed a point from that game, that was the minimum.

“We’ve got to be more professional, more resilient and we didn’t do that. We didn’t deserve the points. We need to try and find a way even on nights when it’s really ugly and we’re not at it. We need to be more professional. We’ve got strong characters and we need to show we can make it through games.”

Howard admitted the treacherous weather conditions made it hard for both sides, but believes Everton FC were more affected by those key injuries.

“It was cruel,” he said of the weather. “You saw the back fours and the keepers not being able to believe balls all night, and at the back one wrong step and it can be a nightmare.

“For our goal I was disappointed from a goalkeepers’ union standpoint. You never want to see that happen. It’s not nice, it’s embarrassing, so I felt for Adam but you have to move on from it.

“The changes hurt us, we had to make some key substitutions. I think it was tough got Jack to get in the game, then he had to come off. And Ossie is one of the guys we look for to solidify things in midfield and he had to come off. Losing Jags was mentally difficult for us because he’s our rock. It didn’t help but it’s not an excuse.”

Howard said the focus must switch to atoning against non-league Tamworth in the FA Cup third round at Goodison on Saturday, and insisted the performance of Landon Donovan on his Everton return was a rare positive.

“We need to get ready for Tamworth, there’s no sense in looking back,” he said.

“It was a bad game and it is what it is, but Tamworth will come and fight like dogs.

“It was good for Landon to get the game under his belt. The thing about him is his technique is very clean, and he makes defenders back off him and if they come very tight he skips past them.

“He’s a good outlet to have – like Steven Pienaar you can rely on him to let the ball flow through him, and he rarely takes a bad touch.”

DAVID MOYES had absolutely no excuses after Everton were beaten by rock bottom Bolton on a wretched night at Goodison Park.

“I have no qualms about the result,” he declared. “We didn’t deserve to be in front and Bolton deserved to win the game.

“We cannot perform like that and expect to win.”

Everton were handed a freak lead when Tim Howard’s clearance caught in the wind and sailed over opposite number Adam Bogdan, but the Blues failed to build on the gift and conceded goals to David Ngog and Gary Cahill.

Moyes refused to use the conditions as an excuse.

“Those conditions are never good to play in,” he added “but two teams have to handle that.

“I suppose it is a little easier to play in it away from home. You have to make the play at home and we never made any play tonight, so I’ve got no arguments about the result.

“It was a freak that we were one nil up but we would have taken it and obviously we should have gone on and done better but we couldn’t hold onto it after that.

“But give Bolton credit – they worked hard for the result and we didn’t play anywhere near as well as we have been.

“Bolton stuck at it and deserved the points.”

Moyes selected out of form Louis Saha alongside Argentinian striker Denis Stracqualursi, handed his full Premier League debut, but the Blues rarely threatened.

“We tried to go with two centre-forwards tonight,” he went on. “If we hadn’t people might have questioned it.

“But that’s not the reason we lost. We just didn’t perform. Apart from our goalkeeper and bits of Landon Donovan, it was hard to see any positives.”

To compound a dreadful night for the home side, Moyes now faces an anxious wait on two key players after Phil Jagielka and Jack Rodwell both limped off injured.

Jagielka injured his right knee challenging David Ngog and after trying to continue collapsed and was led off.

Rodwell, only on as a substitute for Jagielka, lasted 20 minutes before he, too, fell to the turf holding his hamstring.

Moyes confirmed afterwards: “We’ve got two or three injuries, but I don’t know how they are. It’s still too early.”