Phil Dowd is one of the most reliable referees in the Premiership but he has had better days. His assistant, Andy Halliday, should be sent somewhere far away and told not to return until May. It is not only Liverpool who had their day spoilt. Bolton may well have been deserving of this victory but they found the sheen taken off it by questions raised by the ineptitude of Dowd and his officiating team.
Benitez snorted when he was asked whether their decision- making had left him annoyed. “Yeah,” he said. “It's clear every week you can say something, but it doesn't change a lot.”
One misguided jerk of Halliday's flag turned the match, half-an-hour in. Pepe Reina rushed forward to drop-kick upfield and in his haste stepped over his 18-yard line in the act of applying boot to ball. Quite clearly, however, he had released the ball from his hands while still within his area, yet Halliday signalled to Dowd that the Liverpool goalkeeper should be penalised.
A free kick was awarded, although Dowd betrayed his own uncertainty about the situation by declining to caution Reina for handling outside the box. To further compound matters, replays showed clearly that Halliday was a good four yards away from being level with Reina and the 18-yard line.
Benitez said: “It's clear that Pepe was inside the box and that the linesman was in a bad position.
“I can't undestand it because this is the first time I've seen this kind of free kick in England. I could see what had happened a minute later on the television monitor but the fourth official said he couldn't see it.” Bolton scored from the free kick. Gary Speed, playing his 750th senior game, drove a left-footed shot off the edge of the wall past a poorly positioned Reina, whose innocence over the handball should not mask his manifold faults in this match.
The home team, having done little of note to that point, found themselves 1-0 up and “this incident changed the game because we were playing well, we were controlling everything,” Benitez said, with justification.
Another significant decision had already gone against Liverpool. Booked for hauling back Steven Gerrard in the 25th minute, Abdoulaye Faye led with his elbow in an aerial challenge with Dirk Kuyt, opening a cut on the back of the Dutch striker's head that required eight stitches. Dowd gave the free kick but declined to show Faye the second yellow card the use of the elbow necessitated. “If it was an elbow it was a second yellow card,” Benitez said.
Bolton, who have yet to concede a home goal this season, should be commended for the way they made the most of their good fortune and Liverpool condemned for again failing away from home, where they have taken just one point from 12.
Speed and Ivan Campo dug in heroically in midfield and Sam Allardyce's back four showed superb concentration and not a little courage to repel Liverpool. “People were prepared to die to stop the ball going into our net,” said Allardyce.
Comments by Benitez critical of Bolton's robust approach had been pinned up in the dressing room, Allardyce revealed, and used for inspiration.
They were certainly inspired, so much so that even Nicolas Anelka was seen charging into 50-50 tackles and winning aerial challenges. Jussi Jaaskelainen did his bit with saves from Kuyt, Gerrard and Luis Garcia and Speed gilded his performance further by racing back to harass Jermaine Pennant just as the winger was about to shoot.
Allardyce said: “We really committed to our game plan and we nullified a side who have great attacking quality.” The latter was only truly glimpsed, however, when Xabi Alonso caught a volley with imperious technique 20 yards out. The ball flashed past Jaaskelainen and cannoned off a post.
In adversity, the visitors were first meek, then ragged. Kuyt play-acted too much and Craig Bellamy and Pennant, two other summer signings, were lightweight. It is easy to see the athletic qualities Benitez appreciates in Momo Sissoko, less so the footballing ones.
The home crowd loved seeing the Spanish manager's discomfort on the touchline, feeling their club has been consistently slighted by Benitez since he arrived in England. Campo killed off the game early in the second half when he rose above Steve Finnan to power a header home off the underside of the bar. Kevin Davies's cross was brilliant but it was the third goal in two games that Liverpool had lost to a centre from the left-wing and a header won against a short defender.
The introduction of Garcia and Peter Crouch, who scored twice in midweek, made little difference and Benitez again faced questions about his rotation policy. Bolton played out the rest of the match in comfort, their supporters had a good laugh at Liverpool, and, with a little help from Halliday, Bolton have climbed to second in the Premiership.
The win followed Bolton's first away victory in the Premiership in nine months, secured at Fratton Park last Monday. Allardyce, beleaguered by the Panorama “bungs” accusation, had described that as one of the best results of his career. “This was just as good because this was against the big boys,” he said.
