Ivan scores winner to send Bolton into fifth round

WIGAN: Ivan Klasnic fired Bolton Wanderers to a 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic in their FA Cup fourth-round replay at the DW Stadium on Wednesday.

Owen Coyle’s side can look forward to a fifth-round trip to Fulham this weekend thanks to Croatian striker Klasnic’s second-half winner.

While Wanderers’ Wembley bid remains alive, Wigan are left to focus on a grim fight for Premier League survival.

However, Bolton’s win was tarnished slightly by an Achilles injury suffered by Sam Ricketts, which will keep the defender out for several weeks.

“He has damaged his Achilles and it doesn’t look great at this time,” Coyle said.

“The medical team think it could be quite severe and we hope that is not the scenario, but the way it is looking right now, I think it is going to be a lengthy period of time.

“I just need to find out the extent of it tomorrow (Thursday) when it is looked at properly.”

The FA Cup’s diminished status was once again clear to see as both managers rested their key players. Wigan boss Roberto Martinez made nine changes, while Coyle made six alterations.

With the original tie and two Premier League fixtures between the two sides this season all resulting in draws, it was hardly a surprise that this was another close-fought affair.

There was still plenty of goalmouth action to keep the sparse crowd of 7,515 entertained, however.

Bolton’s Lee Chung-yong had the first chance as the South Korean curled wide, then seconds later Wigan goalkeeper Mike Pollitt parried a low Martin Petrov drive and Johan Elmander finished from close range, only for the Swede’s effort to be disallowed for offside.

Wanderers then had a nervy moment as Ronnie Stam’s cross bobbled off David Wheater and goalkeeper Adam Bogdan needed two attempts to keep hold of it.

Klasnic squandered the best opportunity of the first half when he surged clear on goal before hitting a tame shot straight at Pollitt.