Bolton Wanderers made their return to the Championship in style as Sam Dalby and Thierry Gale struck in the first half to secure an opening day victory over Preston.
Bolton Wanderers’ return to the Championship after seven years in League One got off to a perfect start as Sam Dalby opened the scoring before Thierry Gale doubled the lead in the first half.
Preston scored late on through substitute Jusef Erabi, but the home side held on to secure a crucial opening weekend victory at home.
As it happened
Bolton started the game as the brighter of the two sides and it was the home side who struck first. John McAtee raced onto a ball over the top and fired a shot on goal from range. Daniel Iversen in the Preston goal could only parry the ball into the path of Sam Dalby, who placed a low finish into the bottom corner to take an early lead on their return to the Championship.
The hosts continued to push forward and play on the front foot having a flurry of chances following short-corner routine.
And it did not take long for them to find their second. Bolton broke with pace as Thierry Gale was picked out by McAtee in space on the left. He found himself one-against-one with a Preston defender, but was able to cut inside and find space for a shot before curling a beautiful effort into the far corner to send the home fans into dreamland.
The hosts thought they added a third after 35 minutes but the referee had already blown his whistle for a foul by McAtee and the goal did not stand.
The away side had a rare sight of goal soon after, as Delano Burgzorg found space in the box, but he was well challenged by Chris Forino who was able to stretch a leg out and block the effort.
The second half began in a similar pattern with Bolton showing how much of a threat they can be on the break. McAtee ran onto a long ball forward and tried to score spectacularly from long range, but his half-volley, which left Iversen scrambling, flew just past the post.
Preston started to ramp up the pressure a little on the Bolton defence, with the substitutes and change in formation making a big difference.
Despite the changes, it was the home side who had the chance to put the scoreline beyond doubt. Again, the visitors failed to deal with a ball in behind as Sam Dalby found himself in space and through on goal, but the striker’s shot was weak and straight at Iversen.
With 13 minutes to go, Preston passed up their best opportunity of the game. Milutin Osmajić was played through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but instead of testing Jack Bonham, he looked to square the ball to a teammate, got the pass all wrong and the chance went begging.
With five minutes to go, it was game on again as Preston finally got their goal, with two substitutes combining. Andrija Vukčević did brilliantly to whip a cross into the box, finding Jusef Erabi, who powered his header back across goal and past Bonham to cut the deficit to one.
Erabi had another chance to grab an equaliser late on, but couldn’t generate enough power on his header after finding himself goalside of the Bolton defence.
The visitors passed up a golden opportunity right at the death to level the game. Liam Lindsay found himself wide open at the back post but failed to keep his header down as Bolton held on for an victory on the Championship opening weekend.