Norwood belter wins it for Terriers
Oliver Norwood's glorious long-range strike sunk Bolton and handed Huddersfield a third successive Sky Bet Championship victory.
The central midfielder was instrumental in the victory over his boyhood club Burnley on Saturday and his second goal in four days heaped more misery on a club from the north-west.
Norwood lit up a largely tepid affair 19 minutes from time with a missile which arrowed into the top corner from 30 yards out to keep Mark Robins' side well in the play-off mix.
Given the attacking intent boss Dougie Freedman showed with his line-up, Andre Moritz and Rob Hall coming in, it was surprising the game's first chance took some time to occur.
It was produced by Hall as he skipped inside a couple of defenders before forcing goalkeeper Alex Smithies to beat the ball away.
Freedman chose to make three changes from the loss to Middlesbrough and the most intriguing was the inclusion of club captain Zat Knight, starting for the first time since September.
Knight was a mainstay during Wanderers' desperately poor start to the campaign and the errors which had blighted those dark days re-emerged.
First, the hosts failed to clear their lines as Danny Ward shaved the outside of the post before Knight's lackadaisical clearance was eventually thumped wide by Paul Dixon.
However, Wanderers soon wrestled the initiative back only to be denied by a trio of top-class stops from Smithies.
Moritz was the first to go close, capitalising on Tommy Smith's slip, yet Smithies prevented the shot squirming under him. Then, from the resulting corner, the Terriers stopper displayed strong wrists to repel Matt Mills' bullet header. And the triumvirate was complete when he palmed away Jermaine Beckford's stinging effort.
Beckford was pulling on the Huddersfield shirt last year alongside James Vaughan but the latter has shown no signs of missing his ex-strike partner.
He came close to an 11th Championship goal when heading narrowly wide after finding space inside the area.
The second half, like the first, began with a whimper but the introduction of Lee Chung-yong injected life into proceedings, Moritz seeing an effort blocked after the South Korean had driven on.
The substitute then went close himself, although heading is not considered his forte as he displayed by looping over.
Home goalkeeper Andy Lonergan had enjoyed a largely trouble-free evening but he was alert when needed, clawing away Adam Hammill's enticing cross.
However, Lonergan was powerless to prevent Norwood's breathtaking effort, the former Manchester United midfielder's shaped shot destined for the top corner from the moment he struck it.
It ruined Bolton's chances of securing a first home clean sheet of the season while sending the travelling support into raptures.
The Trotters strove for a quick response yet the normally deadly Beckford glanced wide from a decent position and David Ngog's best imitation of Norwood was simply not up to scratch.
Beckford had missed from the spot against Boro late on and was presented with a shot at redemption against his former employers, but he snatched when clean through, while Jay Spearing's shot was blocked, meaning Bolton again went down by a solitary goal.
Source: PA
