Ricardo Vaz Te brought his goalscoring form back to British shores as his brace secured victory for Bolton in the first half of this week's Wanderers v Wearsiders double header.

The Portuguese striker's first game back in a Bolton shirt after his successful international trip with his country's U23 side last week resulted in a goal in each half, securing the home side's second victory at Leyland's LFA County Ground in the space of a week.

The most experienced player on show was perfectly placed to open the scoring on 24 minutes as he planted a bullet header past Trevor Carson from Aaron Mooy's pinpoint free kick, and smashed home the eventual winner from the edge of the area at the mid-point of the second half after Sunderland's defence failed to deal with a high ball into the box.

That braced sandwiched a controversial leveller for the away side, converted from the spot by their prolific poacher Ryan Noble, who came into the game with 35 goals to his name so far in 2009/10 reserve and youth team action.

His strike on 34 minutes was the unexpected result of an attempted upfield clearance from centre half Rhys Bennett, who inadvertently took out Oumare Tounkara with his swinging leg. The referee deemed the collision worthy of a penalty, and Noble found the bottom right hand corner with aplomb.

Despite offerings of neat football from both sides, and plenty of skill on show from playmakers Mooy and Zoltan Harsanyi, defences were largely on top, leading to a shortage of clear cut chances.

The home side's best non-scoring opening of the first period fell to Stuart McDonald, whose shot from a Harsanyi cross was held by Carson, while Harsanyi was also kept busy at the other end as he hacked Michael Kay's header off the line, but the chance counted for little as an offside flag was raised.

For all of his lively play on and off the ball, Sunderland's Noble couldn't net from open play, slicing a decent second half opening wide after good wing play from substitute Jamie Chandler, with the England U19 starlet's miss proving crucial as Vaz Te thumped in the spectacular winner - right footed, on the half-volley - just moments later.

Wanderers' win would have been more emphatic had Mooy capped off a good night's work with a better finish from Michael O'Halloran's cross, but two goals were enough on a night when both defences could be proud of their efforts.

Wanderers: Bogdan, Riley, Blakeman, Stokes, Bennett, McDonald, O'Halloran, Sheridan, Vaz Te (sub McGeechan 86), Mooy, Harsanyi (sub Campbell 69). (Subs not used: Lainton, Burns, Eckersley.)

Sunderland: Carson, Weir (sub Chandler 52), Liddle, Reed, Kay, Brown, O'Mahoney, Hourihane (sub L Noble 81), Tounkara, R Noble, Luscombe. (Subs not used: Misiwicz, Lamb, Galer.)

Referee: Mr M Brown.

Article continues
Advertisement

By Adrian Ward