Ameobi goal sinks Bristol, lifts Bolton from relegation zone

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:34 am

Sammy Ameobi scored the goal that lifted Bolton out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone as they beat promotion-chasing Bristol City 1-0 at the Macron Stadium.

With three points separating the bottom six clubs before kick off, this was a massive victory for Bolton.

And it also proved there is life after Gary Madine following the striker's move to Cardiff this week.

It also ended a jinx as Bolton had not previously won in the league for 22 months when Madine was not in the team.

It was a frustrating night for the Robins as their poor start to 2018 continued - they have won only once in eight league and cup games, though two of them were against Manchester City.

Had the visitors triumphed, they would have moved level on points with second-placed Derby, such is the tightness at the top end of the table.

Following the death of former Bolton manager Jimmy Armfield, fans paid tribute before kick-off with one minute's applause.

The only excitement in the opening half hour was when Luke Steele failed to claim a corner, but Bolton were unable to punish the City keeper following a scramble in which several shots were blocked.

City's best chance of the first 45 minutes came late on when Bobby Reid fired narrowly wide after Aden Flint and Josh Brownhill had shots charged down.

It did not get any better after the restart, though Flint ought to have done better when he headed well over from Joe Bryan's corner.

City came close to breaking the deadlock when Famara Diedhiou's header brought a decent save from Steele.

The biggest cheer of the night came just short of the hour when Bolton favourite Zac Clough, who returned home this week, replaced another new loanee Tyler Walker, both players borrowed from Nottingham Forest.

Bolton scored their all-important goal in the 71st minute when Ameobi picked up the ball in midfield and drove forward before firing low to the left of Steele from the edge of the penalty area to notch his fourth goal of the season.

Bolton's game management of the latter stages was excellent. Indeed, Clough had a great chance to make it 2-0 but blazed over when well-placed.