Fulham 0 Bolton Wanderers 1: Klasnic repeats midweek display to edge Bolton beyond Fulham

Ivan Klasnic scored his second FA Cup goal in the space of four days as Bolton overcame Fulham in a fractious encounter to seal a quarter-final trip to Birmingham.

The Croatian striker scored the only goal in last Wednesday’s fourth-round replay against Wigan and he was on target again yesterday with a volley from 12 yards.

Bolton have not graced the FA Cup final since the late, great Nat Lofthouse scored twice to beat Manchester United in 1958 but have taken two significant steps in the space of a week.

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This victory was not without its controversies. Tempers boiled over in the second half with an off-the-ball spat between Chris Baird and Martin Petrov.

Both men were fortunate to only be booked. Petrov appeared to catch Baird with a flailing arm and the Fulham defender responded by shoving the Bolton winger in the face.

Bolton’s physical centre-back pairing of David Wheater and Gary Cahill were effective in crowding out Andrew Johnson and Moussa Dembele, if not always legally.

Fulham were at least able to cheer the return to action of striker Bobby Zamora, who came off the bench after five months out with a broken leg.

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Mark Hughes made one change to his starting line-up from last Monday’s Barclays Premier League draw with Chelsea, with Zoltan Gera replacing the injured Damien Duff in midfield.

Bolton brought back striker Kevin Davies and midfielder Stuart Holden following their midweek cup win, while Marcos Alonso started at left-back in place of the injured Sam Ricketts.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle felt Bolton deserved their victory.

“It was a hard-fought game. Fulham have been in terrific form. We had to be at our best to win the game and I thought every player was terrific,” Coyle said.

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“We scored a very good goal and looked a threat on the counter-attack. We were under pressure at times from a very good Fulham side but we dealt with that. Over the piece there is no doubting Bolton deserved to win.”

Fulham manager Hughes was critical of referee Stuart Attwell’s performance.

“There were a couple of situations where you think the referee needs to make a positive decision and just waving your arms for an advantage can be a cop-out,” said Hughes.

“In and around the box you don’t particularly want advantage. You want free-kicks and set-plays, which we didn’t seem to get. In the second half, there were a few decisions we found difficult to understand.”