Kevin Keegan's first game back in charge at Newcastle produced an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Bolton.
Plucky Trotters frustrate disappointing Magpies
Kevin Keegan's first game back in charge at Newcastle produced an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Bolton.
The first-half saw defences very much on top as both sides struggled to fashion any clear cut chances and neither goalkeeper was really tested.
The expectations before the game that Keegan's second-coming would see Newcastle become the great entertainers never materialised, while Bolton were happy to get as many men as possible behind the ball and try and hit the Magpies on the counter attack.
The second period failed to produce any improvement and a goalless draw became almost inevitable.
Newcastle enjoyed long periods of possession and won plenty of corners, but their final ball was poor and they had no idea to break through a stubborn Bolton defence.
Jlloyd Samuel almost won the game for Gary Megson's side towards the end when he saw his close-range effort superbly blocked by Shay Given.
Neither side deserved to win though and Keegan will now be well aware of the size of the task facing him at St James' Park.
Keegan spoke passionately of the need to entertain the club's long-suffering fans when he was unveiled on Friday and admitted it would take him time to re-establish the reputation the Magpies had enjoyed during his previous reign.
Just how long that will take may have become a little more evident in his first 45 minutes back in the hot-seat as his admittedly makeshift side were successfully blunted by a Bolton outfit cast in the image of the former manager of both clubs, Sam Allardyce.
Newcastle, with central defender David Rozehnal playing in midfield - Keegan had only 11 fit senior players from which to select after Mark Viduka went down with a calf problem - simply could not break the visitors down in a frustrating first half for manager, players and supporters alike.
Michael Owen, captaining the side as his former England boss attempted to dispel talk of a rift between the two, found himself dropping increasingly deep as he and strike partner Ameobi saw too little of the ball to do any real damage.
Frustrated
Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann and Joey O'Brien worked tirelessly to starve the dangerous Charles N'Zogbia, Damien Duff and James Milner of meaningful possession, and all too often, it was Rozehnal who ended up in the role of ball carrier to little effect.
At the other end, Claudio Cacapa had his hands full with Davies, and it was Bolton who created to only chances of any note, former Magpie Andy O'Brien and Nolan testing Shay Given from distance, although not to any great extent.
Bolton resumed in equally determined fashion as Davies continued the pressurise the home defence, but Newcastle started to find a spark.
They mounted their most promising attack of the game to that point on 51 minutes when James Milner ran on to Shola Ameobi's lay-off to fire in a shot which was well blocked by Andy O'Brien, with Stephen Carr slicing high and wide in the resulting melee.
O'Brien got himself into the right place at the right time once again three minutes later to prevent N'Zogbia's well-struck effort from reaching Jaaskelainen.
The Frenchman curled a 59th-minute free-kick over the bar after Andy O'Brien had fouled Ameobi with his side belatedly mounting a charge.
Gardner had to make a fine tackle to deny Ameobi a clean shot at goal three minutes later after Cacapa and N'Zogbia had combined to open up the Bolton defence for the first time.
Jaaskelainen tipped a Milner cross over as it threatened to sneak under the bar, but having come so far, Bolton were in no mood to surrender.
They almost snatched all three points in injury time when Samuel span on a loose ball inside the box and fired towards goal, where Given made an excellent block to preserve his clean sheet and hand Keegan at least some reward.
| Newcastle United |
Team Statistics |
Bolton Wanderers |
| 0 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 10 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 9 |
Corners |
6 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
3 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 72.8 |
Passing Success |
65 |
| 16 |
Tackles |
17 |
| 50 |
Tackles Success |
70.6 |
| 57.3 |
Possession |
42.7 |
| 50.8 |
Territorial Advantage |
49.2 |
|
