Premier League: Bolton 0 Everton 2

Everton recorded a 2-0 win over 10-man Bolton on Saturday as Marouane Fellaini and Apostolis Vellios scored the goals at the Reebok Stadium.

The hosts saw David Wheater given a straight red for a wild tackle on Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, much to the displeasure of the home fans and the match was an uphill struggle from there.

Fellaini gave David Moyes’ team the lead moments into the second half as he knocked in Bilyaletdinov’s low cross, and substitute Vellios secured the three points 12 minutes from time with an easy finish after a cross-goal pass by Tim Cahill.

The first chance of the match came less than a minute in as Chris Eagles did brilliantly to get in behind Tony Hibbert before cutting the ball back to Kevin Davies who arrived in the box late, but the experienced striker put his effort over.

Thirteen minutes in, Tim Howard was forced into his first save as Davies cleverly left the ball to run to Ivan Klasnic, taking a defender away from the Croat, but the former Werder Bremen striker’s effort was punched away by the American custodian.

With 20 minutes gone, Wheater saw red for a wild, studs-up lunge on Bilyaletdinov after a heavy first touch. The home faithful were not impressed, clearly feeling the Russian made the most of it, but there was no doubting the maliciousness of the tackle, even if it was not two-footed.

Moments later, the pantomime villain of Wheater’s red card, Bilyaletdinov, should have given the visitors the lead, but his half-volley in the area after good work down the right by Seamus Coleman went over from 10 yards.

The first half provided few other talking points as the final 20 minutes followed a repetitive formula: Everton attack after Everton attack.

Everton’s dominance was undoubtedly caused by Wheater’s red card, but the visitors could not capitalise as they registered several chances, but none paid off.

However, less than two minutes into the second half, Moyes’ team had the lead they deserved.

Bilyaletdinov played in a brilliant low cross between the defenders and goalkeeper from the left, allowing Fellaini to sneak through and knock the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainan first time.

Coleman was almost the next to get his name on the scoreboard as the Irishman cut in from the right, before his left-footed shot was deflected, but thankfully for Owen Coyle, Jaaskelainan made the stop.

With 12 minutes to go, Everton had their second as Leighton Baines’ ball from deep was knocked back across the area by Cahill and Vellios was on hand to help it past Jaaskelainan.