Bolton Wanderers Reserves 1 Newcastle United Reserves 2

Last updated : 08 November 2004 By Mark Heys
The reserves fine recent run finally came to an end after a late goal from Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor gave the Magpies the points at the County Ground.

Taylor struck with just five minutes left on the clock to give the North East club their second reserve league win against the Wanderers in as many seasons.

In form striker Ricardo Vaz-Te had the first real effort of the game after just a couple of minutes, but his volley from a Joey O'Brien cross went high over the Newcastle crossbar.

On nine minutes Vaz-Te tested the Newcastle goalkeeper Tony Caig once again with a cross cum shot that midfielder Ricky Shakes was unable to follow up on, then seconds later the Magpies themselves got in on the shooting act but an attempt from Marc Walton on the turn did little to trouble the Bolton keeper Andy Oakes.

It was the Magpies who came closest to scoring on the half hour mark when a free kick from Martin Brittain was headed just wide by England U20 international Lewis Guy. Midfielder Ben Webster also went close just a minute later from long range.

Just before the break Bolton had a perfect opportunity to break the deadlock through Karl Luisi following a sloppy back pass, but the young Wanderers striker found himself thwarted by the advancing Magpies goalkeeper Caig.

England international winger Kieron Dyer, who was making a return from injury, had a hand in the opening goal just after the break when setting up Webster who in turn found Brittain. Unfortunately Bolton's Frenchman Reda Kribib got in the way of the shot and deflected the ball past his own keeper Oakes for the opener on 52 minutes.

Bolton then tried to force an immediate response and almost got their wish had Kris Gate not cleared Luisi's header off the line.Both sides then had chances with Vaz-Te of Bolton and Newcastle's Walton both going close to adding further goals to the game.

On 77 minutes the Wanderers finally got their reward as the excellent Ricky Shakes steered the ball past Caig following a goal clearance from Andy Oakes which had caused problems in the Newcastle defence.

Newcastle kept going though and got the victory with just minutes left on the clock. A corner wasn't dealt with by the Bolton defenders and this allowed defender Taylor to turn home following a cross from Guy Bates.

A bitter blow for the young Wanderers who had gone nearly two months undefeated in the FA Premier Reserve League.

BOLTON RESERVES: Andy Oakes, Rhys Powell, Charlie Comyn-Platt, Danny Livesey, Jason Talbot, Ricky Shakes, Joey O'Brien, Dale Whitehead, Reda Kribib, Ricardo Vaz-Te, Karl Luisi

SUBS: Bradley Hill, Sam Ashton, Jaroslaw Fojut, Jamie Gibb, Luke Magill

NEWCASTLE RESERVES: Tony Caig, Kris Gate, Stephen Brennan, Peter Ramage, Steven Taylor, Daniel Howe, Martin Brittain, Kieron Dyer, Marc Walton, Lewis Guy, Ben Webster

SUBS: Guy Bates, Adam Bartlett, Carl Finnigan, David Edgar, Darren Smylie