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Wanderers' promising early form under Neil Lennon had fans expectant of a comfortable victory at Bloomfield Road today. But Bolton found Blackpool FC difficult to break down as the hosts defended in numbers to frustrate their Lancashire rivals.
Despite enjoying 60% of possession Wanderers were unable to provide the killer touch to claim a deserved victory, but a late goal from Chung-Yong Lee ensured Bolton weren't left completely red-faced at the final whistle.
Chris Eagles, making his Blackpool debut against his former employers, forced Andy Lonergan into an early save, before Wanderers began to gain control as Lee and Tim Ream were both denied by goalkeeper Joe Lewis. Bolton soon suffered another scare when Jacob Mellis' 25-yarder deflected onto the crossbar, only for Lee to suffer the same fate minutes later.
The major talking point of the game occurred shortly before half-time. Craig Davies seized on a short back-pass only to be elled by Lewis, who was only given a yellow card by the referee despite the cries for a red from the visiting fans. Ream smashed the resulting free-kick into the wall - and seriously, why is Tim Ream suddenly taking free-kicks?!
Wanderers should have taken the lead ten minutes into the second half. Max Clayton and Neil Danns combined with a short corner and the latter's cross was headed narrowly wide by Davies, who should have scored. Soon afterwards Bolton's defence almost gifted Blackpool the opener, as Lonergan narrowly prevented a calamitous following Josh Vela's overhit back-pass.
Having contributed little all match Blackpool somehow stole the lead on 75 minutes. Jay Spearing pulled back Josh Murphy 25 yards from goal, and the striker picked himself up to curl a superb free-kick into the top corner - giving the Seasiders hope of only their second win of the season.
But that hope was short-lived, as Lee fired home at the back post just seven minutes later. Wanderers nearly came home with all three points, but substitute Rob Hall was denied in the last minute by Peter Clarke.
Wanderers should realistically have been taking all three points from the trip to Blackpool but, given how the hosts frustrated us, we should be thankful to go home with one point rather than empty-handed. After all, under our previous management we could barely have dreamt of collecting an away point.