Premier League: Bolton 2 Man City 3

Manchester City prevailed 3-2 over Bolton on Sunday after an entertaining clash at the Reebok Stadium.

Owen Coyle’s Bolton proved more than a for Roberto Mancini’s expensively assembled side at times, but ultimately the class of David Silva, Edin Dzeko and Gareth Barry proved too much for the hosts.

Bolton’s determination was key in them starting the better of the two sides. Persistence earned a free-kick for Wanderers after four minutes which Chris Eagles stepped up for.

His dipping effort from the left was uncharacteristically fumbled by Joe Hart, and were it not for a quick clearance from Joleon Lescott, Bolton could have taken an early and deserved lead.

Chances kept coming for Bolton and another City mistake, this time a poor header from Vincent Kompany, was the prelude to Zat Knight firing narrowly wide.

The momentum was all with Bolton until this point, but City, holding firm, were still creating openings.

An Edin Dzeko cross from the right presented Sergio Aguero with the chance to open the scoring but the Argentine somehow fired over the bar.

City were slowly working their way into the match, and their pressure paid dividends just before the hal hour mark when David Silva gave them the lead.

The Spaniard’s swerving long-range effort in the 26th minute fooled Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and found the back of the net.

An unlikely source scored the second for City with Gareth Barry smashing the ball high into the corner following a clever pass from James Milner.

The move began from a corner which saw Bolton pack the box only for Milner to see the space outside the area and exploit it fully by passing towards Barry, who slammed in to give City a deserved two-goal lead.

Bolton’s response was almost immediate, with Ivan Klasnic making the most of a Petrov cross in the 40th minute to whip the ball home and keep the hosts in the contest.

After the half-time break City continued to hunt for a third goal and they were rewarded within 90 seconds of the restart when a fluffed defensive clearance from Knight was seized upon by the Bosnian Dzeko, who beat Jaaskelainen low to his right.

Going two goals down could have killed the spirit and adventure of Bolton, but the resilience of Owen Coyle’s side is commendable and this tenacity brought them back into the game once more as skipper Kevin Davies’ leapt over Lescott to head in Wanderer’s second with 63 minutes on the clock.

They could not find an equaliser though and City should really have had a fourth when Carlos Tevez, who came on for Sergio Aguero, blazed over the bar from close range.