There can be no arguement that we were the better side but Bolton did what they do best, score and then defend for their lives, hoofing the ball when it got near their area and using their physical "prescence" to draw fouls and to win the ball. Pompey started off very brightly and tested the Bolton 'keeper on a few occasions early on and also came close with a shot hitting the post and a Benjani lob that went just wide.
Linvoy then failed to clear sufficiently during a rare Bolton attack and allowed Nolan to volley the ball into the corner and to give the away side the lead well against the run of play a deny Pompey a Premiership record. The home side continued to pile the pressure on but Bolton held on.
After the break, Benjani would break through the Bolton defence with only the goalkeeper to beat but somehow managed to put his shot wide. Bolton then proceeded to stick 10 men behind the ball and hoof it up to Anelka. Pompey managed to muster a few more shots and pile on the pressure towards the end of the game but it was just one of those nights where nothing would go in and even when we tried to attack in the second half, we'd either slip up at the cruical moment or over-play the ball.
Comedy moment of the game was when Harry Redknapp slipped up on the touchline. However I thought he slipped up tactically too as he subbed off Pedro Mendes; who was probably our best player on the night when Gary O'Neil was having a bad game. Swapping Matthew Taylor for Lomana Lua Lua on the left wing didn't make sense either as once again Lua Lua kept trying to do too much against a strong Bolton side.
Despite the defeat there are plenty of positives to take from the game. Even though we conceded (to what was a great strike) the defence did well when under pressure and Sol Campbell had a very good game in particular. As previously mentioned, Pedro Mendes had a decent game until he was strangely subbed for Manuel Fernandes who looked very impressive with his passing and defensive work.
It's fair to say we dominated the game for the most part. We had 19 shots compared to Bolton's 3 along with having the lions share of possession but it just turned out that the difference on the night is that Bolton had a player in their team capable of making something out of nothing whereas we didn't. Uriah Rennie didn't really do much wrong tonight but he just seems to be an omen for us! Sods law would state that with this being Milan's last game at the club and Bolton having not won an away game in 2006 that the end result would be a Pompey defeat. We'll just have to accept it as "one of those things."
What this defeat now means is that Harry now has a reason to change the team around. I'd expect Manuel Fernandes, Niko Kranjcar and Andy Cole to be knocking on the door for a place in the first team for the trip to White Hart Lane next Sunday. There's more to come from Pompey this season I'm sure and we'll obviously want to bounce back straight away against Spurs who haven't had the best start to the season.
I'm a bit disappointed that we missed out on going back to the top of the league as well as a Premiership record but let's not forget what a fantastic start it has been to the season. Milan Mandaric has certainly left us a legacy that will never be forgotten.