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Bolton pushed on for an injury time equaliser but Everton's defence held firm to the very end to secure them their first win of the season.
Kevin Kilbane is booked for a rash challenge on Jay-Jay Okocha on the edge of his own area.
The ball breaks to El Hadji Diouf in the Everton area and he thunders a strike off the crossbar to let the visitors off the hook.
Ricardo Vaz Te fires in a low effort from 20 yards which Nigel Martyn gets down well to smother at his near post.
Joseph Ikpo Yobo does well to prevent Gary Speed getting a free header to a El Hadji Diouf cross.
A final throw of the dice for Bolton as Tal Ben-Haim is replaced by Ricardo Vaz Te.
Everton defend in numbers again to deny a Jay-Jay Okocha-led attack from Bolton.
Bolton make their second substitution with Ramos Ivan Campo coming on in place of Nicky Hunt.
Jay-Jay Okocha works his way right to the byline but can only pull the ball back to an Everton player.
Radhi Jaidi goes on a great run which is halted by Joseph Ikpo Yobo but the resultant free-kick comes to nothing.
Stelios Giannakopoulos whips a free-kick into the Everton but again the Blues defence clear the danger as the game has become rather scrappy.
Stelios Giannakopoulos is brought into the action by Sam Allardyce in place of Henrik Pedersen.
Bolton are continuing to patiently build their attacks from the middle of the park but Everton still look fairly comfortable in defence.
Kevin Nolan misses a glorious chance firing over the bar after Everton fail to clear a Jay-Jay Okocha free-kick properly.
Marcus Bent's problems continue and David Moyes opts to take him off and replaces him with James McFadden.
Both players are okay to resume play after treatment to the relief of both managers.
The game is held up momentarily as Ricardo Gardner and Marcus Bent receive treatment following a clash of legs.
Bolton try and get back on terms quickly but a corner into the Everton is cleared away to safety.
After soaking up all the early second half pressure Everton hit Bolton on the break with Tim Cahill getting on the end of a long throughball before crossing to the unmarked Marcus Bent to score from close range.
Nigel Martyn scrambles across his area to save a deflected shot from Jay-Jay Okocha down at his near post.
Kevin Nolan turns well in the area and looks certain to score but a great intervention by David Weir thwarts him.
Bolton have made a promising start to this half and almost took the lead but Tony Hibbert did well to block Henrik Pedersen's effort.
Everton get the second half underway as they will no doubt look to try and get some more attacks on Bolton's goal this half.
Following two minutes of injury time the referee calls an end to the first 45 minutes in which Bolton have ahd a slight edge but Everton's defence have always looked comfortable.
Kevin Nolan chests the ball down and attempts a volley from the edge of the area following a poor clearance but his effort just dips over.
The game has slowed down considerably in the past five minutes as neither side appear able to put a good attack together.
Gary Speed leaps high in the Everton area again but can only divert his header from a El Hadji Diouf corner over the bar.
The ball is going from end-to-end but with very few scoring chances being ground out.
Alessandro Pistone is unable to carry on after suffering what looks like a knee injury and David Moyes replaces him with Leon Osman.
Everton are playing for 10 men at the moment as Alessandro Pistone is taken away on a stretcher.
Alessandro Pistone is down injured but lucky to escape a booking after a foul on Henrik Pedersen as he looked to make a break.
Nigel Martyn is forced to claw away a Radhi Jaidi header from a corner and Gary Speed then goes close to scoring from the resultant flag-kick.
Everton attempt to catch Bolton on the break but a ball forward to Marcus Bent is too strong and Jussi Jaaskelainen gets their first.
Henrik Pedersen can't quite make full contact to Kevin Nolan's high ball into the area and Nigel Martyn gathers easily.
Bolton goes close again as Kevin Davies flicks the ball onto Henrik Pedersen and his lobbed effort on goal is narrowly over the bar.
Everton make a break but Kevin Kilbane's header from a Marcus Bent croos is poor.
Kevin Davies gets to a long ball into the Everton area first but, under pressure, he hooks his shot over the bar and wide.
Henrik Pedersen makes room for himself to get a shot in on goal but he drags it wide as Bolton continue to look the brighter side.
Radhi Jaidi gets to a long Jay-Jay Okocha throw but his back header ends up in the arms of Nigel Martyn.
David Weir is on hand again to get his head to the danger when El Hadji Diouf put a cross into the area.
Kevin Davies is given the first real chance as he bursts into the penalty area past Alessandro Pistone but Nigel Martyn races out to clear the danger.
Jay-Jay Okocha has tested the Everton backline with a series of long throw-ins into their penalty area but so far they have coped comfortably.
Everton make a quick break and a trademark Tim Cahill flick header just flashes past the Bolton goal.
Bolton have made a promising early start to proceedings as they look for an early goal.
David Weir and Mikel Amatriain Arteta combine to clear an early long throw into the Everton penalty area.
Bolton get the game underway at the Reebok Stadium as two of last season's surprise packages aim to take their impressive form into this new campaign.
Marcus Bent scored the only goal as Everton battled to a 1-0 victory at Bolton, but it was the Toffees' strong defence that secured the points. Bent rounded off a rare attack from the visitors by tapping the ball into an unguarded net seven minutes after the interval - it was Everton's only shot on target of the afternoon. However, David Moyes' side deserved the points after producing a fine defensive display that stifled Bolton's unimaginative attacking play. The Trotters relied far too much on the long ball to Kevin Davies and as a result failed to test visiting goalkeeper Nigel Martyn with any degree of regularity. But in the closing stages the former England shot-stopper was required to produce a fine reaction save to tip El-Hadji Diouf's powerfully struck drive on to the crossbar. The home side controlled the first half and Martyn had to rush from his line to prevent Davies getting a shot in, before Henrik Pedersen squandered two good chances. Everton were forced into a reshuffle when Alessandro Pistone was stretchered off after half an hour, but looked more comfortable after Phil Neville dropped into the back four. The home side started the second half strongly and Davies was presented with a good chance by Pedersen, but made a mess of his shot which dribbled through to Martyn. Everton took a surprise lead in the 52nd minute with a move straight out of Sam Allardyce's book of tactics. Duncan Ferguson failed to get his head to a long punt downfield but the combative striker's jump wrong-footed the home defence and the ball bounced through to Tim Cahill. The Australian shaped to shot from a tight angle, but screwed his shot across the face of goal where Bent was waiting to prod it home. The goalscorer hobbled off soon afterwards to add to Everton's problems ahead of their midweek trip to Villarreal, but at least Moyes had the satisfaction of seeing his defence hold firm. Kevin Nolan blasted over when well placed before Martyn's crucial save to deny Diouf, but all too often Bolton's mis-placed passing and poor set-piece delivery made it simple for the visitors to hang on to their slender advantage. Trotters boss Allardyce was furious with his players and complained: "We've now only got one point out of six and it's a struggle from here, we're already playing catch-up. "We battered Everton from start to finish and dominated the game but a lack of quality let us down. "The Premiership is cruel, it will punish you. We made one slip for one second and Everton scored. "This was a perfect example of what happens when you do not take advantage of the chances you create. We had 17 attempts on goal to their three yet ended up losing the game. "We were never under the cosh yet we ended up with nothing, it is so frustrating." Moyes was relieved to see his side record their first win of the campaign and saw no reason to apologise for their defensive approach. He said: "We defended well, it was a constant bombardment, and a good result for us. I thought our players all along the back four were superb." "We were good enough to keep Bolton out and we got the goal that counted. "You know when you come to Bolton it's going to be hard and we had to dig in to get the victory. "You could count on one hand the teams who will come here this season and get the points, so we did very well."
Corners
Fouls
Goal attempts
Shots off target
Offsides
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