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  • Kick-off: 16:00
  • Venue: City of Manchester Stadium
  • Attendance: 43137
  • Referee: Dean, M

Live Commentary

94mins

Man City will wonder how they lost this game after dominating throughout the second half and hitting the woodwork on four occasions they are rocked by Bolton's last gasp penalty winner.

93mins

Gary Speed converts the spot-kick to almost certainly hand Bolton three points in a game that Man City have dominated.

92mins

Richard Dunne is yellow carded for his handball which gave away the spot-kick.

92mins

Bolton are amazingly awarded a penalty after the ball struck the arm of Richard Dunne.

90mins

Danny Mills gets a cross in towards Darius Vassell but Radhi Jaidi dives in to prevent Man City scoring again.

86mins

Sun Jihai beats Jussi Jaaskelainen on this occasion but his effort comes back off the woodwork for the fourth time in this game.

85mins

Jussi Jaaskelainen again denies Man City this time blocking Darius Vassell's effort.

84mins

Stephen Ireland almost caps his debut with a goal but again Jussi Jaaskelainen is on hand to deny him on the line.

82mins

Bolton do well down the right-hand side with Kevin Nolan laying the ball off to Hidetoshi Nakata but his shot is too high.

81mins

Joey Barton is replaced by 17-year-old Stephen Ireland as Stuart Pearce hands the player his debut.

80mins

Man City appeal for handball against Gary Speed after he cut out a Danny Mills shot in the area but the referee waves play on.

77mins

Darius Vassell puts in a dangerous cross which is not held by Jussi Jaaskelainen but nobody is on hand to follow it up and Ramos Ivan Campo clears.

73mins

Bolton have imposed themselves well in the past few minutes as they look to make Man City pay for missing earlier chances.

68mins

Sylvain Distin knocks the ball out of play as Bolton's Henrik Pedersen plays a dangerous cross into the area.

66mins

Ricardo Gardner is brought on in place of Stelios Giannakopoulos by Sam Allardyce.

63mins

Man City are forced to do a bit of defending for a moment as a Stelios Giannakopoulos' corner causes problems with David James having to dive on the ball following a close range effort by Ramos Ivan Campo.

60mins

Bolton are forced to defend again as both Richard Dunne and Antoine Sibierski fail to direct the ball goalwards as it bobbles about in the penalty area.

58mins

Kiki Musampa drills in a fierce effort from the left-hand side and again Man City are denied by the woodwork.

55mins

Hidetoshi Nakata comes on for his Premiership debut for Bolton in place of El Hadji Diouf.

52mins

Jussi Jaaskelainen again saves the day for Bolton with a fantastic stop with his foot from Claudio Reyna's close range effort.

50mins

Kevin Davies is the first player into the book after a nasty tackle on Joey Barton.

49mins

Man City go close again as Joey Barton beats Jussi Jaaskelainen but his effort comes back off the post.

46mins

The action is underway for the second 45 minutes with both sides looking to try and snatch a valuable three points.

46mins

Ramos Ivan Campo is on for the second half in place of debutant Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye.

45mins

The first 45 minutes comes to an end in stalemate although Man City will be more confident having had four good chances mainly through Antoine Sibierski.

44mins

Antoine Sibierski goes clsoe again with a volley from Darius Vassell's cross which is wide of the mark.

42mins

Danny Mills' cross give a third chance to Antoine Sibierski but again Jussi Jaaskelainen denies him with a flying save.

38mins

Tal Ben-Haim puts in an early cross but Kevin Nolan's header is over the bar.

36mins

Bolton get a free-kick in a dangerous position but Stelios Giannakopoulos' kick is poor and is blocked by Claudio Reyna.

32mins

Antoine Sibierski gets on the end of Joey Barton's cross and beats Jussi Jaaskelainen but the header hits the crossbar goes up in the air and bounces off the bar again before going out of play but the referee blew up for a foul.

30mins

A scrappy past few minutes as the ball has been centred in the middle of the pitch with no real attacks.

26mins

Sun Jihai is brought into the action to replace the injured Trevor Sinclair.

24mins

A worrying moment for Man City as Trevor Sinclair goes down clutching his knee in pain and is stretchered off the field of play.

22mins

Darius Vassell creates another scoring chance this time for Kiki Musampa who again fails to hit the target.

21mins

Man City fans show their frustration as Bolton appear to be timewasting already as Jussi Jaaskelainen takes an age to take a free-kick.

18mins

Bolton attack again with Gary Speed trying his luck from 25 yards but his shot goes over the bar.

17mins

Kevin Davies finds time and space in the Man City penalty area but he cannot find a way past David James and he should have put Bolton ahead.

16mins

Darius Vassell is the bright spark for Man City as they have the edge in the opening quarter of this contest.

13mins

Darius Vassell plays in Antoine Sibierski and his effort on goal is very well saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen in what has been the best chance of the game so far.

8mins

Kiki Musampa attempts another effort from distance but his shot is high and wide of the mark.

6mins

David James is forced to come out and punch the ball clear as Stelios Giannakopoulos again puts a dangerous corner into the box.

5mins

Kiki Musampa attempts a shot from 20 yards but it is comfortably held by Jussi Jaaskelainen.

3mins

Richard Dunne gets up well to head clear a dangerous inswinging Stelios Giannakopoulos corner for Bolton.

2mins

Tal Ben-Haim does well to prevent Antoine Sibierski getting a header on goal as Man City have started very brightly.

0mins

The match is underway between two sides hoping to push for a European place this season as Stuart Pearce picked up his manager of the month award ahead of the game following their fine unbeaten start to the campaign.

Match Report

Manchester City failed to equal a post-war record of 14 games unbeaten after a dramatic home defeat by Bolton.

Manager Stuart Pearce will still be wondering how his side managed to lose a game they completely dominated.

It was very much a case of smash and grab as Bolton rode their luck to pick up a victory which lifts them into fourth place.

City were denied four times by the woodwork and also by the brilliance of Bolton's Finnish keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, who saved his side on numerous occasions.

Then in the third minute of injury time Bolton won a penalty as Richard Dunne needlessly handled a Henrik Pedersen cross, enabling Gary Speed to score from the spot.

City had been attempting to match the 14-match unbeaten run they managed in 1976-77 when they finished runners up to Liverpool in the old First Division.

And once again it was a case of the Manager of the Month curse striking as Pearce had been presented with his award for August before kick-off.

Antoine Sibierski stepped in for Andy Cole who sustained a hamstring injury in training, the only change City made from the Manchester derby.

Bolton had a new look team, making five alterations from the line-up which beat Lokomotiv Plovdiv three days earlier on their UEFA Cup debut.

Manager Sam Allardyce fielded a weakened side against the Bulgarians insisting the match against City was more important.

Kevin Nolan, Speed, Kevin Davies, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye and Tal Ben-Haim all returned in a 4-3-2-1 formation.

Sibierski forced the first serious save of the match in the 13th minute when he was denied by Jaaskelainen's athleticism.

It was then the turn of City's David James to keep out Davies' effort, though the striker ought to have scored with a free header from eight yards.

City were forced to make an early change when, midway through the half, Trevor Sinclair was taken off on a stretcher with a twisted knee and replaced by Sun Jihai.

Sibierski, eager to seize on his rare starting spot, was thwarted by the woodwork with an excellent header from just inside the penalty area.

And the Frenchman was denied for a third time as Jaaskelainen did well to tip his header over the crossbar late in the half.

Bolton were saved by the woodwork for the second time soon after the restart when Joey Barton's drive hit the upright to the left of Jaaskelainen.

City were then thwarted by the outstretched leg of Jaaskelainen when the keeper produced a remarkable save to keep out Claudio Reyna's close-range shot.

City were denied by the woodwork yet again just short of the hour when Kiki Musampa's thunderous drive clipped the top of the crossbar.

Pearce brought on Stephen Ireland in the 81st minute and he almost immediately covered himself in glory with a terrific drive which Jaaskelainen again kept out with another superb save.

The hosts then struck the frame of the goal for a fourth time when Jihai's angled shot crashed against the crossbar.

The China defender looked to the heavens in disbelief and Pearce also shook his head as that proved more than anything it was not going to be City's day.

And that came true in the third minute of stoppage time when Pedersen crossed from the left only for the ball to strike the outstretched arm of defender Dunne.

Referee Mike Dean pointed to the spot to the disbelief of the City fans and Speed fired home the penalty.

Manchester City

Bolton Wanderers

Corners

75

Fouls

1416

Goal attempts

176

Shots off target

54

Offsides

35

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