Stoke City 2 Bolton Wanderers 2:BOLTON WANDERERS are down and in the final analysis it will look as though they did not do enough to save themselves on the final day.

Record books do not tell the whole story, however, for the visitors were in a winning position when the extraordinary second-half story at the Etihad Stadium began to unfold.

Concentration appeared to waver when news came through of QPR’s unlikely revival and, though Jon Walters’s penalty earned Stoke City a draw they probably deserved, had Bolton been able to hang on to their lead they could have enjoyed Sergio Aguero’s late winner almost as much as Manchester City did.

Bolton looked nervous in the opening stages and Peter Crouch went close while Ricardo Fuller and Matthew Etherington both saw early shots saved, so the visitors could hardly complain at going behind, even if there was considerable debate over the legality of the goal.

Walters did not exactly bundle Adam Bogdan into the back of his net, in the manner once favoured by Nat Lofthouse, but he appeared to play the goalkeeper rather than the ball from Etherington’s cross, with the result that the Hungarian goalkeeper was unable to make a clean catch and the ball ended up in the back of the net.

Ivan Klasnic was involved in the attack that brought Bolton their equaliser, though the move appeared to have been safely neutralised until Robert Huth drove his attempted clearance straight at Mark Davies and saw the ricochet beat Sorensen before the goalkeeper could react.

That was in the 39th minute and there was still time for not just another first-half goal but another freakish one. Kevin Davies crossed from the right for Klasnic and Sorensen waved the ball into his net at the near post. So a first half that contained three of the season’s more bizarre goals ended with Bolton in front, the final five minutes having turned everything that went before on its head.

Bolton’s joy in its turn was curtailed by news of Djibril Cisse’s second-half equaliser at the Etihad which led to taunts of “you’re not singing any more” from the Boothen End. The Bolton fans, though soon perked up at the news of Joey Barton’s dismissal.

What was taking place on the Britannia pitch thus became something of an irrelevance but in truth not that much was happening until Crouch played in Etherington and the winger shot too high when he could have levelled. When news that QPR had taken the lead filtered through, even the comedy convicts with the Great Escape banner at the Bolton end fell deathly quiet.

While Bolton led, their supporters could at least hope that City might still come to their rescue but that possibility disappeared when Bogdan brought down Crouch to enable Walters to bring the scores level from the spot. Further news from the Etihad was not required, however encouraging it might have been a few minutes earlier.

Guardian Service

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