Bolton come unstuck against Toffees

Bolton 0 Everton 1

The Blues sneaked out of the Reebok Stadium with three points thanks to Marcus Bent's 52nd minute goal but only after withstanding constant pressure from the home side.

"We defended well, it was a constant bombardment, and a good result for us," Moyes said. "You can count on one hand the number of teams that will win here this season.

"I thought our players all along the back four were superb."

Moyes was delighted to return to winning ways after successive defeats against Villarreal and Manchester United.

He said: "I thought we played well enough against the Spanish side to get a result. Then when we faced Manchester United we carved out a number of good chances."

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was left with a feeling of disbelief after his side failed to build on the draw against Aston Villa last weekend.

El-Hadji Diouf saw his volley come back off the underside of the bar while Kevin Nolan squandered two good chances.

Allardyce said: "This was 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."

Allardyce felt the Everton goal was one that should not have been conceded after Bent got on the end of a cross from Tim Cahill following a long ball from Joseph Yobo.

"I don't want to be too hard on our defence given the chances we missed but one lapse of concentration has cost us dear," Allardyce added.

Bent limped off eight minutes after grabbing his goal with an ankle problem and is now a doubt for Wednesday's trip to Spain to play Villarreal in the second leg of a Champions League qualifying tie in which they trail 2-1.

Moyes said: "We are not quite sure about Marcus. We don't have much time to turn things around before Wednesday."

Moyes will be without Alessandro Pistone after the left-back damaged knee ligaments in a first-half challenge.

However, both striker James Beattie (bruised foot) and midfielder Simon Davies (shin splints) may be available for the third qualifying round game.

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Hunt (Campo 78), Jaidi, Ben Haim (Vaz Te 83), Gardner, Nolan, Okocha, Speed, Pedersen (Giannakopoulos 67), Davies, Diouf.

EVERTON: Martyn, Hibbert, Yobo, Weir, Pistone (Osman 33), Neville, Bent (McFadden 60), Cahill, Arteta, Kilbane, Ferguson.

Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).