Premier League: Fulham 2 Bolton 0

Fulham earned their fourth Premier League win of the season as an impressive first half gave them a 2-0 victory over Bolton.

A goal from Clint Dempsey and a wonder-strike from Bryan Ruiz secured the points as the hosts scored two in two minutes to consign Bolton to the bottom of the table for another week.

Dempsey placed a good header from distance into the corner before Ruiz scooped the ball over the head of Jussi Jaaskelainen to round off a devastating counter-attack from the hosts, sealing a dominant win.

For the hosts, Danny Murphy was back in the team following a week-long absence with an ankle injury, while David Stockdale was recalled from his loan spell with Ipswich Town following an injury to number one keeper Mark Schwarzer.

Bobby Zamora was a notable absentee as well, with Ruiz filling in for the centre forward, but taking up a position on the right flank as Dempsey pushed further forward.

Owen Coyle chose to go with a fairly defensive midfield consisting of four central midfielders, with Darren Pratley deployed on the right with Chris Eagles consigned to the bench.

The first chance of the match fell to Nigel Reo-Coker after five minutes. Kevin Davies won the ball back from Dickson Etuhu for the visitors and a nice passing move was followed by a shot which dragged wide of the far post.

Fulham quickly countered, however, and Andy Johnson had a real chance to open the scoring after he was put through by Dempsey. The striker tried to dink an effort over Jaaskelainen, but his shot skewed wide.

Murphy then came close as the hosts began to dominate, but his volley from the edge of the area was tipped wide by the Bolton keeper.

Fulham tested Jaaskelainen again as John Arne Riise struck a free-kick that was well saved following a deflection on its route to goal.

The home side took the lead in the 32nd minute when a nice move was capped off with a fine finish as Dempsey headed home Ruiz’s cross from 13 yards out. Jaaskelainen may have got down quicker, but in his defence, the header was perfectly aimed into the corner.

And before the visitors could catch breath, they were two goals behind. Dempsey returned the favour for Ruiz, putting the attacker in behind the defence. It seemed for a moment that the 26-year-old had lost the ball under his feet, but what followed was truly outstanding.

The Costa Rican paused and effortlessly lobbed the ball over Jaaskelainen’s head and into the goal, the ball looping in beautifully.

Bolton had a chance to get back into it minutes later with their first real chance of the match, but Mark Davies’ shot was saved well by Stockdale before the teams headed in for half-time.

The second half was considerably quieter than the first, with Fulham content to sit back and counter attack.

It was working well for them, and almost led to a third goal when Johnson’s driven cross flew across the goalmouth, where Dempsey was sliding in. The American could not get much of a connection, however, and was wide of the far post when he sent his shot into the side netting.

Bolton were unquestionably getting more of the ball as the game progressed, but did not trouble Stockdale too much. He made a couple of fairly routine stops, but looked solid while doing so.

The match petered out late on, as Fulham cruised to an easy victory that left Bolton bottom of the Premier League.