Bolton 2-3 West Ham: Bowen brace seals Hammers win | OneFootball

It was goals galore at the Toughsheet Community Stadium as Jarrod Bowen, Ethan Erhahon, Ruben Rodrigues and Konstantinos Mavropanos all got themselves on the score sheet in a dramatic West Ham win.

Bowen’s brace sealed the win in an action-packed game, as Bolton’s hopes of picking up points were dashed with 10 minutes left.

Bolton have now suffered four defeats on the bounce in the Championship. Leaving the Trotters sitting in the relegation zone.

As it happened

Bolton’s first chance came early, as they won a free kick in the opening minute; however, Samuel Lling-Junior’s free kick posed no threat, and Mads Hermansen comfortably saved the winger’s effort down the middle.

In the 13th minute, West Ham launched a quick counterattack. Bowen drove towards Bolton’s box and laid the ball off to Kyle Walker-Peters. The right-back delivered the ball into a crowded box, where Josh Sheehan slid in and made contact, but it fell into the path of Pablo and Gavin Bazunu; however, the ball remained uncleared, allowing Bowen to run in behind and make it 1-0 to the Hammers.

Bolton responded quickly as Erhahon capitalised on a poor clearance by Mavropanos, which found the Scotsman, who fired a low effort towards goal, which deflected off Mavropanos’ legs and left Hermansen flat-footed. Marking his first goal for the club.

Bolton came close to adding a second in the 21st minute after a perfect run from Rodrigues managed to bypass West Ham’s defensive line before the Portuguese brought down the ball cleanly to square up Lling-Junior on the edge of the box. However, his poor connection on the first-time effort saw the ball go wide of the post.

In the 26th minute, a clever touch from Sam Dolby set up a perfect run for Kyliane Dong, whose pace allowed the winger to get his body in front of Walker-Peters, which led to a penalty for Bolton.

Rodroguies made no mistake from the spot as he sent Hermansen the wrong way to come back from behind to lead 2-1.

The Hammers spoiled any early celebrations just five minutes later. A perfect free kick from Arne Engles from the edge of the box sailed dangerously towards the back post, where Mavropanos was waiting; the Greek international fired a header towards Bazunu, who was unable to keep the ball out, levelling the score on the half-hour mark.

Three minutes after the equaliser, Mavropanos nearly got his second of the game following a perfect Bowen corner which fell at the back post for the jumping centre-back; a powerful header was terrifically saved by Bazunu as the goalkeeper got a strong right hand to knock it away from the goal’s path.

It was a much calmer start to the second half as neither side could create any real opportunity until the hour mark when Manor Solomon’s shot from inside the box was dragged across the floor, leaving Bazunu with a comfortable save.

Substitute Joel Piroe came close in the 71st minute following a lofted ball over Bolton’s defence by Solomon, which fell in front of goal for the striker; however, a swing on the half-volley was only ever going high over the net.

The goals did not stop flowing in as Joel Veltman swung the ball in towards the late-running Bowen in the box, who squeezed his shot past Bazunu at the near post with 10 minutes left to play to regain West Ham’s lead for the second time in the match.

Bowen had the chance to kill the game with minutes left to play; the captain received the ball in the centre of the box from the left, and the recovering Sheehan made a brilliant block to deny Bowen’s effort.