Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Nottingham Forest

Is this the rebirth of the Fortress Reebok that we're beginning to see? Certainly the most entertaining match of this young Championship season saw Bolton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest finish with a 2-2 draw. Much like in the Derby County match, Bolton started off pretty poor once again, this time going down a goal, before picking up the pace and scoring.

For nearly forty minutes, Bolton Wanderers were on the back foot at home. There was nothing going for the Whites in the center of midfield and the defenders were once again in poor form. Nottingham Forest confirmed their dominance thanks to a frankly brilliant goal from midfielder Lewis McGugan. McGugan found space in the center of the park and brought the ball within 30 yards of goal before letting rip a great effort into the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net. There was certainly far too much space for him with Sam Ricketts the only man closing McGugan down in the center with Matt Mills and Zat Knight nowhere to be found.

Bolton would however get it back just before halftime as the heroes from the Derby County match combined to equalize. Sam Ricketts sent a cross that Kevin Davies (somewhat controversially) got his head on and sent crashing into the post. Davies had two hands on the Forest defender but said in the post-match interview that he didn't remember pushing his man off of him. Regardless, the ball came back to Chris Eagles who sent it into the bottom corner at the far post.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Bolton would take the lead thanks to Marvin Sordell's first Bolton Wanderers goal (outside of a friendly). Forest's Dan Harding possessed the ball outside of his box on Forest's right wing. Whether Harding wasn't aware that Kevin Davies was running in on him or he just got worried, Harding could not clear the ball and SKD got a hold of it, bringing it towards goal on the end line. Davies played the ball back into the center of the box with Marvin Sordell standing near the penalty spot. The forward got a somewhat awkward shot off, sending it off the far post and in.

Forest had one goal left in them as a long ball sent from the back was knocked down by Dexter Blackstock to Simon Cox who played the smart layoff to Andy Reid, allowing the midfielder to score a relatively easy goal. Matt Mills was beat to the initial header by Blackstock and never recovered from it, not getting back to the play at all. It was Zat Knight that should have closed down Reid but instead gave him relative miles of space to shoot.

Bolton Wanderers are still undefeated at home this was certainly two points dropped. The season is still young but many of the problems from last season are very apparent. Bolton Wanderers will have to seriously shore up the defense ahead of next Saturday's league match, away to Hull City. Expect a number of changes as the team travels to Crawley Town for the League Cup on Tuesday.