Bolton Wanderers 2 Sheffield United 0: Blackwell frustrated at missed chances

Having reluctantly sold Matthew Kilgallon to Sunderland for 2m prior to Saturday's FA Cup encounter, replacement Marcel Seip limped away after tearing a hamstring in the pre-match warm-up and the on-loan Plymouth defender could be ruled out for up to six weeks.

Blackwell had to risk Jon Fortune in place of the Dutch central defender at the Reebok but he is not fully match fit on his way back from knee and hamstring injuries and it may be a big gamble to play him alongside captain Chris Morgan in tomorrow's home game against Reading, FA Cup conquerors of Brian Laws's Burnley.

Fortune was one of three changes made by Blackwell to the side which had defeated Middlesbrough in the Championship, Darius Henderson and Henri Camara leading the attack in place of benched duo Richard Cresswell and Ched Evans.

The switches up front against the Premier League hosts had been prompted by Blackwell heeding the lessons of last season. He explained: "I did it at QPR in the last round and, like then, we went to go and win the game but I have to try and get all of my strikeforce fit.

"We have 21 games left and there is no let-up with matches Tuesday and Saturday for the next two months so you have to try and have your squad as fit as you can.

"If I look at last season, the lessons that were learned were that we went into a play-off final with no strikeforce. We had no back-up. This year I have five strikers and we have had some injuries with them so I need to get them fit and have a bench that can change games.

"It's nice to know you can win the game from the bench and that's going to be key in the latter part of the season."

All four strikers got the chance to crack the Bolton defence but without a semblance of success, such was the dominance of former Blades loan defender of three seasons ago, Gary Cahill, and side-kick Zat Knight.

Blades fan and Bolton captain Kevin Davies had marginally more success at the other end, playing a part in both of his team's goals and enjoying a rare old battle against visiting captain Chris Morgan.

Yet the difference in quality between the sides was minimal and it could have been a different outcome had Camara's sidefooted lob not gone over the bar after a clever ball down the channel from Williamson in the 19th minute.

Henderson also made a hash of attempting to strike a spinning ball inside the area but the Blades received a let-off when Kyle Walker was unusually turned inside out by Jlloyd Samuel, who stood posing on his skill rather than getting a shot in.

Left-back Andy Taylor, however, was caught napping soon after the restart, Bolton right-back Gretar Steinsson finding space after being fed through by Davies to sidefoot past the despairing lunge of Fortune and goalkeeper Mark Bunn into the far corner.

The second goal was a carbon copy, Davies and Chung-Yong Lee combining to set up an identical opportunity for substitute Johan Elmander to apply the coup de grace six minutes from time.

Jamie Ward entered the fray to fire a couple of shots off target but Jussi Jaaskelainen was so well protected by his central defenders that he did not have a shot to save in front of almost 5,000 disappointed Blades fans.

Further bad news came when it was revealed that Lee Williamson had 'nicked' a hamstring and will almost certainly be ruled out tomorrow, allowing new 500,000 signing from Middlesbrough Mark Yeates to stake a claim for a place on the wing.

"We are down to the bare bones," confessed Blackwell, who has had to reshape his squad this season following defeat to new Bolton manager Owen Coyle's Burnley in last season's play-off final.

"There's no bitterness, that win changed his life. He's certainly done me no favours but good luck to him. We had to sack loads of people after that defeat because we lost the parachute payment from the Premier League – that's how big that game was.

"But overall I'm proud of the players because there was nothing between the teams today and that's why it was galling to let in sloppy goals.

"I believe we are better than that – that's what narks you when they are told and don't listen. Sometimes when you have been on such a good run maybe you need something to go against you to get you fired back up again and remind yourself that you are nowhere near the finished article and have got to work harder. So we will use this defeat as inspiration."

One of Blackwell's targets could well face the Blades tomorrow, former Doncaster defender Matthew Mills being part of the Reading side who stunned the Clarets on Saturday.

Bolton Wanderers: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Ricketts; Lee, Muamba, Cohen, Samuel (Basham 85); K Davies (Riga 88), Klasnic (Elmander 75). Unused substitutes: Robinson, Al Habsi, O'Brien, Vaz Te.

Sheffield United: Bunn, Walker, Morgan, Fortune, Taylor; Williamson (Cresswell 75), Montgomery, Harper, Quinn (Ward 72); Camara (Evans 80), Henderson. Unused substitutes: Bennett, Stewart, Geary, France.

Referee: A Marriner (W Midlands).

MATCH FOCUS

Hero: Nick Montgomery

No wonder new Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle is one of those pondering a move for the combative Blades midfield player, who has yet to sign a new deal at Bramall Lane.

Villain: Gary Cahill

His loan spell at the Blades three seasons ago sparked his 4.5m move to Bolton and the Dronfield-born Owls fan repelled everything the visitors threw at him in the heart of the Bolton defence.

Key moment

48th minute: Sloppy defending allows Kevin Davies to feed in Gretar Steinsson to slide the ball home for the opener.

Ref watch

Andre Marriner: Sensible control and booked only Richard Cresswell for flinging an arm into the face of Johan Elmander.

Verdict

The Blades underlined that there is little difference between the top eight in the Championship and the bottom eight in the Premier League.

Next game

Sheffield United v Reading; Championship, tomorrow, 7.45.

Quote of the day

I would like the transfer window to close in 30 seconds but unfortunately it doesn't does it?

– Kevin Blackwell, uncertain if any more of his Blades players will become targets.

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