Tottenham Hotspur Vs. Bolton Wanderers: Ref Gets It Wrong, But Don't Call It Lucky

Tottenham Hotspur got a little bit of help from the referee in their 3-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon, but it would be unfair to say that Stuart Attwell had any significant effect on who won and lost this match. Gary Cahill was shown an extremely harsh straight red card in the 18th minute, for denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity. While 50 yards away from goal. It wasn't the right call, but Spurs were well on their way to victory before it happened.

Their first goal came just six minutes into the game. It wasn't their first great chance of the match, and it wouldn't be their last before Cahill was shown red. It came on a corner kick, and the marking by Bolton was absolutely terrible. Luka Modric took the corner to the near post and Gareth Bale made a run towards the ball, getting onto it and finishing with his left foot.

The red was shown 12 minutes later for a poor challenge on Scott Parker that warranted a yellow card, but it was never a red. Regardless, Cahill's defending in the first 18 minutes was poor and the tackle required some truly terrible judgment on Cahill's part. Though the referee made a mistake, it was an absolutely dreadful 18 minutes for Cahill.

Tottenham absolutely battered the Bolton goal for the rest of the first half, but Jussi Jaaskelainen made a number of solid saves. Though none of the saves were truly world class efforts, as Tottenham repeatedly shot at the keeper instead of away from him, he still did extremely well to keep the score at 1-0 entering halftime.

Apparently, Harry Redknapp made a point of telling the boys to shoot away from the keeper in the locker room. Spurs would find their second to ease the concerns of supporters and seal the win in the 50th minute, with Aaron Lennon scoring from 12 yards out on a magnificent individual effort, assisted by Jermain Defoe. The in-form English striker would score one of his own just ten minutes later, tapping in a goal on a corner kick, assisted by a Gareth Bale header.

Spurs had more than 60 percent of the possession as Scott Parker and Luka Modric had no problem dominating the play after Bolton had a man sent off. Once Gretar Steinsson came on for Fabrice Muamba post-red, there was endless space and time on the ball for the Tottenham midfielders and dominating the play in this game was hardly an accomplishment.

Though Cahill should have never been sent off and Spurs should have scored more, it was obvious from the opening whistle who the superior team was. Tottenham now face a much tougher test in their next league fixture, as they go away to the Brittania Stadium to face Stoke City.