Bolton pay the penalty at Blackburn

Updated 18.33 Sun Feb 24 2008
Keywords: kevin davies, morten gamst pedersen, david bentley, benni mccarthy, blackburn rovers, bolton wanderers, premier league, sport, football

Benni McCarthy scored two penalties as Blackburn beat Bolton 4-1 in the Premier League at Ewood Park.

The South Africa striker opened the scoring in the first half after Gretar Rafn Steinsson had brough down David Dunn.

"In the second half we have scored what I thought was a perfectly valid goal" - Gary Megson

Kevin Davies equalised early in the second half but Bolton defnder Gary Cahill turned the game on its head when he committed an uneccesary foul on Dunn and McCarthy converted a second penalty to restore Blackburn's lead.

David Bentley headed a third goal for Blackburn and Morten Gamst Pedersen added a fourth in injury time.

Bolton manager Gary Megson felt Gregorsz Rasiak had a good goal disallowed for offside.

Megson said: "We have no complaints on the second penalty but a lorry-load of complaints on the first one. And in the second half we have scored what I thought was a perfectly valid goal."

Blackburn were playing their first game since taking a winter break in Florida.

Manager Mark Hughes said: "We went away at just the right time and you saw the energy in our play today. We came flying out of the blocks and that's what we wanted and the reason why we did it.

"It is going to take more points to get a European place than it has ever done but we'll keep going. We've got winnable games and if we can put pressure on by taking maximum points hopefully we'll get where we want to go."

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