Coyle back to bury Burnley

OWEN COYLE achieved his first points as Bolton manager and against a club he left only weeks ago.

A goal from Chung-Yong Lee in the 35th minute at the Reebok Stadium was enough to separate the two teams.

In the process Bolton overtook Burnley in the Premier League after a match that was competitive throughout, given what was at stake.

While Coyle will take professional satisfaction you suspect there will be little gloating as he brought a number of the Burnley players on show to Turf Moor.

Coyle did state he felt Bolton were a bigger club and the result may have been evidence of that. However both face a battle to stay in the top flight.

About 5,000 supporters backed Burnley and some abusive chants were aimed at Coyle while one banner stated “He is not the Messiah”.

Burnley’s cause was not helped in that they lost Graham Alexander and Chris McCann to injury in the first half.

Bolton should have taken the lead in the 17th minute when Fabrice Muamba found himself clear on goal after being released by Matt Taylor but he cleared the bar with his effort.

That gave the home side confidence and Gary Cahill nodded wide from close range after Burnley’s Clarke Carlisle almost sent a header beyond his own goalkeeper Brian Jensen.

The visitors hit back and Chris Eagles squandered a glorious chance in the 28th minute mishitting the rebound after Jussi Jaaskelainen parried Steven Fletcher’s shot inside the area.

Back came Burnley and Christian Kalvanes’ effort beat Jaaskelainen but finished the wrong side of the post.

Bolton made the breakthrough with Lee taking advantage of a superb ball from Davies.

He clipped in a shot that hit the underside of the bar and Michael Duff thumped it clear, only for referee Martin Atkinson to award a goal.

Manager Brian Laws made a switch three minutes later by bringing on striker Frederic Nimani for Eagles. Nimani is on loan from Monaco until the end of the season only received his international clearance on the day of the game. He cut an imposing figure as Burnley hunted an equaliser.

However Bolton maintained the momentum and Johan Elmander clipped a header wide of the post following a cross from Davies.

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Cahill, Knight, Steinsson, Ricketts, Muamba, Taylor (Gardner, 77), Cohen, Lee, Davies, Klasnic (Elmander, 52).

BURNLEY: Jensen, Kalvenes, Duff,

Carlisle, Mears, Alexander (Paterson, 17), Elliott, McCann (McDonald, 13), Eagles (Nimani, 66), Fletcher, Nugent.

Referee Martin Atkinson.