Man of the Match: Martin Petrov

A poor performance against Fulham was certainly a kind way of putting it. No drive, spark, or ambition from a side that struggled all around. Bolton Wanderers had issues linking passes together in midfield, defending Damien Duff, and finding anyone in the box to latch onto one of the many crosses in. Picking a man of the match here is tough and it comes down to a question of who was the least crap for Bolton.

Martin Petrov worked fairly tirelessly once again today. He was Bolton's best attacking option and was no slouch on defense, helping out left, right and center. Petrov took a number of shots in the hopes of giving Bolton a scoring option but they were all blocked or deflected.

Adam Bogdan (despite allowing three goals) was fairly solid again today. He might have been a half step slow on Clint Dempsey's very well placed opening free kick but then, not many keepers would have come close to stopping that. Bogdan can only so do much with the lack of defense around him as was the case on the third goal. Diarra broke through the center of defense but there was not a single centerback in sight.

Chris Eagles and Kevin Davies both came on as substitutes at the start of the second half and both tried to influence the proceedings. Eagles almost scored for Bolton on a curling free kick that went just wide. Kevin Davies did his Kevin Davies thing and tried to create chances but he couldn't make it three goals in three games.

Come on Bolton, don't make it this difficult for us against Newcastle. At the end of the day, Martin Petrov was Bolton's best option once again and he'll take home our man of the match award..