Bolton 2 Rovers 2

[Alan75]

In a repeat of last seasons corresponding fixture, when Short gained Rovers a point, this time it was Dwight Yorke's turn to earn Rovers a point in injury time against Bolton at the Reebok.

With the game only 2 minutes old referee Andy D'Urso awarded a penalty after Lucas Neill had fouled Okocha.

Djorkaeff (penalty) and ex- Rover’s miss fit Kevin Davies’s goal from 6 yards had given Bolton a half time lead where Rovers didn’t appear to have woken up. However manager Graeme Souness must have had a few choice words at half time, with Matt Jansen scoring with a blistering right foot shot, within 5 minutes of the restart of the game.

There is an old saying “A game of 2 halves” and Rovers where now in command with Yorke and Thompson going close. On the hour mark Souness replaced (Matty is Back) Jansen with Andy Cole, and soon after changed to a 3 at the back formation bringing on Grabbi and Reid, for Fltcroft and Gresko.

Reid’s debut however was short lived, following a reckless tackle he was given a straight red card by ref. D’Urso

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, N'Gotty, Laville, Gardner, Nolan(, Frandsen65), Campo, Okocha(Giannakopoulos83), Djorkaeff, Davies, Pedersen(Barness76).

Subs not used: Poole, Jardel.

Booked: Nolan, Davies.

Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Taylor, Amoruso, Gresko (Grabbi75), Thompson, Tugay, Flitcroft (Reid75), Emerton, Yorke, Jansen (Cole 60).

Subs not used: Kelly, Johansson.

Booked: Neill, Flitcroft, Emerton, Thompson.

Referee: Andy D'Urso

Attendance. 27,423

Final Score 2-2.

[laughatthedingles]

2 minutes gone and Lucas Neill was turned and tugged at Okocha's shirt who readily fell to the floor and Andy D'Urso pointed to the spot, Djorkaeff stepped up and put the ball just beyond Friedel's grasp. The Aussie then continued having a nightmare at full back and brought Ricardo Gardner down just on the edge of the area and recieved a yellow card for his third foul of the game.

Rovers could not string to passes together and were being continually forced back as Bolton pressed and when Djorkaeff sent Davies clear the former Blackburn man fired low and hard past Friedel and sent Bolton into a two nil lead.

It could have been more had Friedel and Amoruso been at their best, but Jansen struck the ball from just outside the box on a rare Rovers attack and forced a good save from Jaaskelainen.

Half time arrived and Rovers had managed to keep the score at two nil against a barrage of Bolton attacking and Andy D'Urso's -still bitter from previous clashes with Souness and Neill- apparent dislike of all things to do with Souness, Rovers and Neill.

In the second half Thompson began on the right and his early cross fell to Jansen who's snapshot found the bottom corner and it was game on. Yorke then raced clear in the 54th minute but was pulled back, the striker chose to remain on his feet and shot only for Jaaskelainen to save.

in the 87th minute little over twelve mintues after coming on Steven Reid was dismissed for a challenge that D'Urso used to gain more revenge on Souness and Blackburn, however in the 94th minute de-ja-vous struck and a neat turn and cross from Grabbi found Yorke who headed home at the far post, sending the travelling fans, players and Souness into raptures and left Bolton with only one point and D'Urso unable to spoil the day, final score at the Reebok, Rovers 1 Bolton 1.