Three and a half thousand Bolton fans watched the Whites record one of the greatest results in their history when Kevin Davies equalised in the 82nd minute to earn a draw against Bayern Munich, one of Europe’s strongest teams.
Wanderers had taken the lead in the first ten minutes, with Ricardo Gardner’s deflected shot looping over Oliver Kahn into the top corner. But since then, Bayern were on top, and equalised on the half hour mark, with Podolski’s shot hitting the bottom corner past Ali Al-Habsi. Bolton were terrorised by Franck Ribery in the second half, and he set up Podolski’s second just after the break, before Ribery was substituted and the match became more even again. Wanderers had a couple of chances before Davies fired under Kahn to earn a memorable draw.
Wanderers started brightly, and made it count very early on, when Gardner’s shot was deflected into the Bayern Munich net from a Nolan long throw. And Bolton should have doubled their lead soon after when Kevin Davies dragged his shot wide after getting free in the 18 yard box. However, Bayern soon woke up, and Bolton were on the back foot for the remainder of the game.
It wasn’t long before all the home side’s pressure paid off, and Ribery and Schweinsteiger combined in a brilliant move before Podolski finished it off with a low drive into the bottom corner. Bolton managed to hold on until half time at 1-1.
But after the break, Bayern started to turn up the heat, and four minutes into the second half, another brilliant move by Franck Ribery was again finished by Lukas Podolski. They started to run away with the game, and Ottmar Hitzfeld must have sensed this because he took off Ribery and Schweinsteiger midway through the second half. However the home side could not find a third goal, and were punished in the 82nd minute, when Nolan battled in the Bayern Munich penalty area, before laying the ball off to Kevin Davies, who hit it low under Oliver Kahn and into the net.
This was a truly amazing battle by Bolton, and a result that will be rembered for a while. And Wanderers remain in a qualifying spot in Group F, two points behind leaders Bayern Munich. Sorry, got that one wrong - Bolton are 3rd, behind Bayern and Aris Salonika, who have a game in hand.
It was very encouraging - but then I’ve been hugely encouraged since day one, with the application.
You’ve seen it tonight - they’ve stuck at it. We got away with it once or twice, but it was good.
We keep drawing games. We had 12 players missing against a club of this stature, and it was terrific.
- Gary Megson
