Bolton Wanderers dropped down to second from bottom in the Premier League after a 1-1 home draw with Swansea City.
Trotters drop deeper into the relegation zone with draw
Bolton Wanderers dropped down to second from bottom in the Premier League after a 1-1 home draw with Swansea City.
Swansea could consider themselves unlucky not to get the three points with Danny Graham hitting the bar on 75 minutes.
It was Scott Sinclair who opened the scoring after just five minutes with a beautiful effort that he curled into the top corner from outside the box.
Swansea could only keep the lead for eight minutes before Chris Eagles swept the ball in from a centre by Martin Petrov on 14 minutes.
Swansea move up one place to 11th in the table with a 13-point lead over Bolton who are the only team in the bottom three who can mathematically catch them.
Excellent
The Welsh side broke the deadlock from their very first attack in the sixth minute, with Sinclair cutting in from the left flank and bending an excellent strike into Adam Bogdan's top-left corner with his right foot.
The hosts' response was swift, however, as Petrov delivered an enticing cross from which Eagles swept a crisp half-volley past Michel Vorm to equalise in the 14th minute.
Gretar Steinsson had been easily beaten by Sinclair in the build-up to Swansea's opener but the Icelandic full-back made partial amends when he produced a timely block to prevent countryman Gylfi Sigurdsson from restoring the visitors' lead.
The action went from end to end in an open first half, with Vorm forced into a sharp save to repel a low free-kick from Petrov on the half hour.
Swansea centre-back Steven Caulker then spurned a good opportunity to put Swansea ahead when he lifted the ball over the bar after Bogdan had parried a free-kick from Sigurdsson.
Second half
Brendan Rodgers' side began the second period strongly and Bogdan was called into action once again to save a low effort from Swansea striker Danny Graham, who curled wide from a Sigurdsson pass shortly afterwards.
Bolton coach Owen Coyle reacted by introducing French striker David Ngog from the bench but the pressure continued to mount on Bogdan's goal.
The Bolton goalkeeper saved from Graham at the near post and saw Sinclair's follow-up effort blocked, before Graham rattled the crossbar with a curling effort.
Having narrowly avoided falling behind for a second time, Bolton threatened to take all three points in the last 10 minutes.
David Wheater had a shot deflected wide after a strong run from centre-back, while Eagles bent a shot fractionally wide from the edge of the penalty area after being teed up by Ivan Klasnic.
| Bolton Wanderers |
Team Statistics |
Swansea City |
| 1 |
Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 4 |
Shots off Target |
9 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
13 |
| 8 |
Corners |
10 |
| 19 |
Fouls |
8 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
5 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 68.6 |
Passing Success |
85.4 |
| 13 |
Tackles |
15 |
| 92.3 |
Tackles Success |
60 |
| 38 |
Possession |
62 |
| 53.5 |
Territorial Advantage |
46.5 |
| 283 |
Total Passes |
480 |
| 28 |
Total Crosses |
28 |
| 178 |
Lost Balls |
162 |
| 53 |
Recoveries |
67 |
| 36.9 |
1st Half Poss. |
63.1 |
| 37.3 |
2nd Half Poss. |
62.7 |
|
