Bolton Wanderers vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
University of Bolton StadiumAttendance14,112.
Bristol City come from two goals down to draw with Bolton.
Saturday 11 August 2018 19:36, UK
Jamie Paterson scored an 81st-minute equaliser as Bristol City came from 2-0 behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Bolton in the Sky Bet Championship.
Will Buckley and Josh Magennis struck within three second-half minutes to put Phil Parkinson's side into a commanding position at the University of Bolton Stadium.
But Andreas Weimann quickly pulled a goal back before Paterson completed the rescue act to give Lee Johnson's team their second draw of the new campaign. Bolton, buoyant from their 2-1 success at West Brom on the opening weekend, will see this as two points dropped.
City, who have now gone 15 away games in all competitions without a win, dominated possession in the first half. But it took them 14 minutes to fashion a first chance as Josh Brownhill fired narrowly wide from 25 yards.
Lloyd Kelly forced Ben Alnwick into a first save after 21 minutes while Niclas Eliasson came within a whisker of giving City a deserved lead with an inswinging, left-footed free-kick which struck Alnwick's far post.
There were ironic cheers when referee John Brooks awarded Bolton a first free-kick for Nathan Baker's challenge on Magennis, after 10 verdicts in a row favouring the Robins.
City fashioned the first chance of the second period after just 49 seconds but Callum O'Dowda's left-footed effort was easily smothered by Alnwick. The goalkeeper produced greater acrobatics to palm away Weimann's strike for a corner minutes later.
Referee Brooks then booked Eliasson for diving when Bolton skipper David Wheater's clumsy challenge looked penalty material.
After 57 minutes, Bolton finally forced a save out of Niki Maenpaa, which led to the first goal. Craig Noone's cross from the right eluded Magennis and Will Buckley but was rolling goalwards until Maenpaa intervened.
From the corner Wheater's header was cleared off the line by Marlon Pack, but Buckley fired in the rebound from five yards. Referee and linesman decided the ball had crossed the line.
Three minutes later Bolton doubled their advantage after Josh Vela's quick free-kick picked out Pawel Olkowski.
The full-back's cross from the right was trapped by Magennis in the centre of the area before the striker swivelled to fire home right-footed from 12 yards for his second goal of the season.
City hit back after 64 minutes as Weimann followed up his goal in the 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest. Pack's through-ball to Weimann beat the offside trap and the former Aston Villa and Derby man drilled a low shot into the corner from 12 yards.
And City completed a deserved comeback when Paterson curled in a right-footed shot from the edge of the area to end a fast break in fine style.
Phil Parkinson: "We scored two good goals. And as much as we look at ourselves in what we could have done better with the goals we conceded, their first one was offside. I said marginal but Sky TV told me it was clearly offside.
"The second came from our corner but David Wheater was pole-axed in the middle of the pitch and the referee didn't give a free-kick. We had a two-goal lead and didn't see it through. But we could have done with some help from those key decisions."
Bristol City assistant Dean Holden: "We dominated possession in the first half but it was slow and safe and we didn't really hurt Bolton where we thought we could.
"But we stuck to the game plan apart from a five-minute period in the second half when Bolton got both goals.
