Bolton Wanderers came from behind to seal a 1-1 draw with Derby County at Pride Park.
Anelka equaliser after Miller opener
Bolton Wanderers came from behind to seal a 1-1 draw with Derby County at Pride Park.
The two started the day at the foot of the Premier League table and that is how it remained after they cancelled each other out in an entertaining affair.
Derby deservedly took the lead after 20 minutes when Kenny Miller fired home after good work from Steve Howard.
The Bolton leveller came just before the break when Nicolas Anelka powered an effort past Stephen Bywater, albeit with a deflection off Dean Leacock.
The second half saw both create chances, although Bolton had the better of them and Bywater was needed to keep both Anelka and Christian Wilhelmsson at bay with fine saves.
The Rams had looked the most likely winners from the start, and they had the first chance in the third minute when Stephen Pearson cut through the visitors' defence but scuffed his shot wide.
Bolton responded almost immediately through Ricardo Gardner, who got round the back of the home defence only to send in a low cross which proved too strong for Kevin Davies in the box.
Derby broke through with a rare moment of class, Howard chesting down Tyrone Mears' long ball and crossing for Miller to drill the ball low past Jaaskelainen.
Anelka and Joey O'Brien both saw long-range efforts sail well wide of target before the French striker finally seized upon a stroke of good fortune to snatch his side's equaliser.
Anelka moved to the edge of the Rams box and fired a shot which Bywater appeared to have covered before it took a wicked deflection off Leacock and squirmed into the far corner of the net.
Kevin Nolan went close to giving the visitors the lead five minutes from the break when Leacock attempted a tight back-pass under pressure and Nolan nipped in but could only hit the side-netting.
Derby dominated the opening stages of the second half and came agonisingly close to going back ahead in the 49th minute, when another low Miller drive was brilliantly blocked by Jaaskelainen.
The Rams kept pressing but as four goals from their seven previous matches testified, a second was going to be hard to come by. James McEveley's long-range effort was deflected behind, and Miller blazed over from an Eddie Lewis cross.
The ever lively El Hadji Diouf caught the Rams defence sleeping with his cross which trickled across the face of goal in the 62nd minute, but much to his obvious frustration there was no-one to poke the ball home.
Bolton substitute Christian Wilhelmsson had his first chance for the visitors in the 67th minute when he cut into the left side of the Rams box but his low shot was comfortably saved by Bywater.
Bywater was back in action in the 79th minute with his stunning saves from Wilhelmsson and Anelka, before Pearson booted Nolan's follow-up off the line to save a precious point.
| Derby County |
Team Statistics |
Bolton Wanderers |
| 1 |
Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
7 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 7 |
Corners |
8 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
8 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 3 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 70.8 |
Passing Success |
74.3 |
| 27 |
Tackles |
13 |
| 81.5 |
Tackles Success |
69.2 |
| 51.2 |
Possession |
48.8 |
| 46 |
Territorial Advantage |
54 |
|
