Sunday Wrap Up March 2, 2008

  Bolton 1 - 3 Liverpool 

Wanderers woes at Reebok. Gary Megson’s Bolton side started the day on a positive note as El-Hadji Diouf and Joey O’Brien each had opportunities to put them ahead. Diouf’s shot beat Pepe Reyna only to rebound off of the post while Steven Gerrard cleared O’Brien’s attempt from the line. Jussi Jaaskelainen suffered the embarrassment of scoring the opening goal when he deflected Gerrard’s shot into his own net 12 minutes into the match. The Finnish keeper showed that the mistake was not going to undo him however as he made a great save from a Ryan Babel 5 minutes later. Babel threatened every time he had the ball and his 60th minute interception of Gary Cahill’s hashed clearance allowed him to put away Liverpool’s second goal of the match.

Bolton kept at it throughout the game and looked as though they might score a few times. But, Fabio Aurelio chested down the ball and powered home the death stroke in the 75th. The hosts got on the board when Tamir Cohen headed home a nice goal, too little too late though as the Reds took all three points to move into fourth position for a little while and pushed Bolton further into the relegation battle.

            

  Everton 3 - 1 Portsmouth 

Yakubu brace bookends at Goodison. Ayegbeni Yakubu set the tone early, very early, with a goal in 47 seconds. The Nigerian won the foul and headed in the free kick that stunned visiting Pompey. The Toffees failed to press the early advantage and gave up the equalizer through Jermaine Defoe’s deflection of Glen Johnson’s cross. Portsmouth worked hard to get a leg up as they surged forward continuously from the start of the second half. Everton kept their composure and were rewarded when Tim Cahill headed home Steven Pienaar’s chip. Yakubu not only started the build up for Cahill’s goal, he finished off Portsmouth with a neat turn and finish to regain the fourth position from their Merseyside rivals.