Goals either side of the interval from El-Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies seemed to put Wanderers well in the driving seat for another victory but three minutes of madness allowed the struggling Blades back into the match with goals from Rob Hulse and Colin Kazim-Richards.

The game started at a frantic pace and the hosts tried to make their mark on proceedings in the early moments as both striker Rob Hulse and club captain Chris Morgan headed wide of Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal.

Kevin Nolan, returning from a three match suspension, then had a chance for Bolton at the other end but he couldn't get enough on his shot to sufficiently test Paddy Kenny in the United goal.

Fellow midfielder Idan Tal went even closer for the Lancashire outfit on the quarter hour mark as his powerful shot from distance shaved Kenny's left hand post.

Tal was making his first start in the Premiership since starring for Everton four years ago and was seemingly keen to take his chance alongside Nolan and Gary Speed.

The Wanderers continued to press midway through the first half and Sheffield United had their skipper Morgan to thank for blocking a shot from the indecisive Kevin Davies.

Morgan nearly proved to be the savour at the other end for the Blades but his header from a deep throw in was turned out of danger by in form keeper Jaaskelainen.

The deadlock was finally broken ten minutes before half time when an awkward long pass from Bolton's Henrik Pedersen found its way through to the roundly barracked El-Hadji Diouf. The Senegal star shrugged off the attentions of Phil Jagielka to lift the ball over Kenny for his fourth goal of the current campaign.

On 41 minutes Tal again went mightly close for Bolton following a cross from countryman Tal Ben-Haim but Sheffield had their resilient goalkeeper Kenny to thank for denying the veteran Israeli international from close range.

At half time United manager Neil Warnock read the riot act and the ineffective Keith Gillespie was replaced by former Bury favourite Colin Kazim-Richards at the start of the final period.

Alan Quinn failed to trouble Jaaskelainen with a weak effort just after the break and this later proved costly as boyhood United supporter Kevin Davies netted his first Bolton goal since the opening day of the season.

Nicolas Anelka picked the ball up on the left wing and played it into Idan Tal who in turn laid it off for Davies to fire in a low shot past Kenny from the edge of the box.

By this point the Blades didn't look like bringing themselves back into the contest but manager Warnock used his tactical experience to change things around and off the bench came Nicholas Law and Christian Nade in place of Nick Montgomery and Quinn.

This seemed to perk the home side up and a well headed Rob Hulse goal on 70 minutes from an excellent Mikele Leigertwood right wing cross opened the game up once again.

Wanderers didn't help themselves as just three minutes later goalkeeper Jaaskelainen came racing out to the edge of his area leaving substitute Kazim-Richards the chance to fire the ball through a gaping gap at the near post for an unlikely equaliser.

Hulse missed out on the chance to claim a winning goal as his header went wide of the mark but it was Bolton who should have won the game late on when Kevin Nolan headed into the arms of goalkeeper Kenny who also saved spectacularly well from Abdoulaye Faye.

Bolton have never had the best of times when visiting Bramall Lane so before the game a point might have been a satisfactory outcome but surrendering a 2-0 advantage with twenty minutes to go will leave Sam Allardyce fuming.

Next weekend sees the Trotters make the short journey to Merseyside to take on David Moyes Everton who lost by a singular goal at home to Aston Villa yesterday.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Tal Ben-Haim, Abdoulaye Meite, Abdoulaye Faye, Henrik Pedersen, Kevin Nolan, Gary Speed, Idan Tal (Ivan Campo), Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

Subs Not Used: Nicky Hunt, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ricardo Vaz-Te, Ian Walker (GK)

Sheffield United: Paddy Kenny, Rob Kozluk, Chris Morgan, Phil Jagielka, Derek Geary, Keith Gillespie (Colin Kazim-Richards), Nick Montgomery (Nicholas Law), Mikele Leigertwood, Alan Quinn (Christian Nade), Danny Webber, Rob Hulse

Subs Not Used: David Sommeil, Craig Short

Referee:

Alan Wiley

Attendance:

28,294

Booked:

Chris Morgan (Sheffield United)

Abdoulaye Meite(Bolton)

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