The Wanderers had to juggle their starting line up with defender Abdoulaye Faye serving a one match suspension and skipper Kevin Nolan failing a fitness test on a rib injury.

Bolton legend Gudni Bergsson was present at the game as a guest and he would have been extremely impressed at some of the defending displayed by both sides but the problem all afternoon was about converting chances, or lack of them.

Within the opening sixty seconds Bolton could have gone ahead with the first effort of the game when defender Nicky Hunt tried to place Gary Speed's lay off past City goalkeeper Nicky Weaver.

Chances from there on in proved to be scarce and despite a lot of Bolton's probing they could not break down a City defence that was well organised and prepared for their short visit to the Reebok Stadium.

Ivan Campo sent a leathal volley wide of Weaver's right post for Wanderers just before the half hour mark, whilst Italian front man Bernardo Corradi fired over at the other end for City after being put through neatly by Stephen Ireland.

Moments later Corradi had his second serious attempt of the afternoon but his effort from Trevor Sinclair's dangerous right wing cross went over the crossbar of Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and towards safety.

It was fair to say that both teams could not deliver a killer end product but the situation was made a whole lot worse by referee Andre Marriner's constant inability to make the right decisions over fouls and bookings.

The final period proved to be just as lacklustre and it took until 25 minutes before the end for any excitement to enter the area when in form City defender Richard Dunne steered a goalbound Ivan Campo header over the top of his own crossbar.

Bolton decided to make changes and it came as no surprise to see both Stelios Giannakopooulos and Andranik Teimourian enter the fray in place of Idan Tal and Kevin Davies, the latter of whom had picked up a couple of hefty knocks earlier in the game.

Ex-City striker Nicolas Anelka was unable to repeat the two goal showing against his former employers from earlier in the season and was inconspiciously quiet but for one shot in the 67th minute which was saved by ex-teammate Weaver.

In the final twenty minutes of the game Darius Vassell used his speed to flash a cross into the area which Joey Barton only had to prod home but somehow the Manchester City man failed to connect with the ball.

City came into the contest much more possession wise following the introduction of giant Greek forward Georgios Samaras but the all important winning goal was not forthcoming at either end.

Bolton must now travel up to Middlesbrough next weekend in search of their first league win of the new year. The Riverside Stadium has proved to be a difficult ground for Wanderers in recent years so hopefully that hoodoo can be buried once and for all

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Tal Ben-Haim, Ricardo Gardner, Gary Speed, Ivan Campo, Idan Tal (Andranik Teimourian), Nicolas Anelka, Kevin Davies (Stelios Giannakopoulos), El-Hadji Diouf (Ricardo Vaz-Te)

Subs Not Used: Blazej Augustyn, Ian Walker (GK)

Manchester City: Nicky Weaver, Micah Richards, Richard Dunne, Nedum Onuoha, Sylvain Distin, Trevor Sinclair, Joey Barton, Ousmane Dabo, Stephen Ireland, Bernardo Corradi (Georgios Samaras), Darius Vassell (Ishmael Miller)

Subs Not Used: Matthew Mills, DaMarcus Beasley, Andreas Isaksson (GK)

Referee:

Andre Marriner

Attendance:

22,334

Booked:

Ricardo Gardner (Bolton)

Joey Barton (Manchester City)

Idan Tal (Bolton)

Ousmane Dabo (Manchester City)

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