Taylor's finish suits Bolton

Stoke City 1 Bolton Wanderers

After a disastrous takeover of Stoke by an Icelandic consortium 10 years ago, their manager Tony Pulis was well aware of the misery the remote North Atlantic island was capable of inflicting long before vast plumes of volcanic ash brought havoc to British air passengers.

Pulis, put into cold storage by the Icelandic group in 2005 but brought back a year later after Peter Coates regained control, remains on course to steer Stoke to their highest League placing since they finished fifth in the 1974-75 season, despite an astonishing home defeat that all but secured Bolton's Premier League safety.

Trailing to Dave Kitson's 13th-minute goal, Bolton appeared to be heading for a fifth successive defeat and a nailbiting finale to the season before Matthew Taylor struck twice in three minutes towards the end – from his deflected free-kick and Vladimir Weiss's cross.

With three games remaining, Owen Coyle's side has a seven-point safety cushion yet the Scot, who labelled his side's first-half performance "unacceptable", is refusing to relax.

"Two of our last three games are at home so it's in our hands," said Coyle after his fifth win in 17 Premier League games since taking charge in January.

"Until we're mathematically safe we have to keep going. There were one or two choice words said at half-time because the way we were losing was not acceptable."

Pulis's side only have themselves to blame after squandering a string of chances to wrap up victory in the first half. After Kitson's composed finish, following a delightful ball by Tuncay, Robert Huth and Tuncay both hit the woodwork while Abdoulaye Faye had one of the misses of the season after Taylor's late show.

Attendance: 27,250.

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Man of the match: Taylor

Match rating: 6/10