Dickov volley sinks Bolton to ease Rover’s relegation worries

Bolton 0 Blackburn 1

Dickov, who has been a transfer target for Birmingham, eased the club’s relegation worries with a superb volley in the sixth minute at the Reebok Stadium.

It was his seventh goal of the season and Hughes was quick to praise the Scotland striker after the 1-0 victory.

Hughes said: “Paul has that ability to score goals from inside and outside the box. He harasses players and does not give the back four any time to settle. It was a great strike and he is having a fantastic season.

“However, he will acknowledge the amount of work the rest of the team put in to protect that goal.

“He has got great enthusiasm, a great work ethic and drags other players along with him. That is going to be an important factor for us in the second-half of the season.”

Blackburn set their stall out from the first whistle after three successive draws and never looked back.

Steven Reid should have added a second goal at the death but somehow steered a shot wide from close range after good work by Dickov and Jon Stead.

Hughes said: “We deserved more than one goal considering the number of chances we created.

“It is typical of the season Stead is having that a textbook header should come back off the bar.

“He is working hard, though, and I am sure things will turn for him.

“I am just happy, however, to settle for a 1-0 win. I don’t want to be greedy.

“The players were excellent and stuck to their task. They were first class,” said Hughes.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce conducted a lengthy inquest in the dressing room after a sixth straight defeat.

He said: “Our problems are apparent - we cannot keep clean sheets and we have stopped scoring goals.

“Those are the key reasons why we have had so many defeats on the trot and our confidence has taken a huge knock.

“Neither side really passed the ball that well at any stage. We didn’t produce anything wonderful like they did - Dickov’s goal was a worthy winner.”

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, N’Gotty, Jaidi, Gardner, Okocha, Speed (Hierro 72), Giannakopoulos (Ferdinand 76), Pedersen (Vaz Te 52), Davies, Diouf.

BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Johansson, Matteo, Reid, Flitcroft, Ferguson, Emerton, Dickov, Bothroyd (Stead 25).

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).