Walking Down The Manny Road - Bolton Wanderers 1. Aston Villa 1.

Angel fired home the late leveller just moments after El-Hadji Diouf had netted only his second league goal of the campaign but in truth Bolton had a number of chances to win the game earlier in the day.

The visitors cleared efforts off the line on three seperate occasions as Wanderers pushed and prodded but to no avail. This is the first time that Wanderers have dropped home points since playing Blackburn Rovers at the start of September.

Bolton's Kevin Daviesnearly ended his goal drought as two chances came his way on the quarter hour mark. Firstly the ex-Southampton striker saw his shot saved by Thomas Sorensen and then the resulting attempt from Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye's knockback was cleared off the line by left back Wilfred Bouma.

Villa tried to get the ball through to the lively Milan Baros but the Czech Republic front man was often thwarted in his efforts by the excellent Tal Ben-Haim and Bruno N'Gotty.

Bolton seemed well in control of the first half possession play but the problem was trying to break down a stubborn Villa defence that worked hard to match anything that was thrown at them.

A 25th minute free kick from the right by Stelios Giannakopoulos was headed over by Frenchman N'Gotty and just two minutes later Joey O'Brien's effort was comfortably gathered by Sorensen after the Villa defence had only half cleared a long throw in by Kevin Nolan.

Bolton's third attempt in quick succession fell the way of Gary Speed on 30 minutes but the Welshman could only fire Giannakopoulos short lay off from a free kick high and wide into the South Stand.

Davies and Nolan both had further chances to open the deadlock before the break but were once again stopped in their tracks by the resolute Villa back line of Bouma, Liam Ridgewell, Olaf Mellberg and Aaron Hughes

Five minutes before the break Speed thought he had finally given Bolton the lead that they deserved but a combination of Sorensen's post and James Milner defending meant that the Wanderers still looked for that elusive goal.

El-Hadji Diouf had swung in a corner from the left and Speed was the first to react to the ball with a trademark header that had Sorensen beaten until the intervention of the post and some quick thinking on the line by Villa loanee Milner.

After the break the Trotters had a third attempt cleared off the line as Diouf's effort from Kevin Davies cut back was slid to safety by Villa's inspirational full back Hughes.

On 50 minutes Villa had their first real attempt on goal as Milner tested Jussi Jaaskelainen from a good 20-yards out but the Finnish goalkeeper was able to tip the ball away to safety.

At the other end last week's goalscoring hero Giannakopoulos headed over from just a few yards out following some good work down the left by Diouf who had showed some good determined play to get past ex-Newcastle player Hughes.

Referee Phil Dowd then cautioned Bolton's centre half Ben-Haim for diving just as the Israeli was about to do a Mark Fish style venture into the final third of the field.

Villa midfielder Gavin McCann then fired his shot wide of the Bolton goal on the hour as the game started to deflate somewhat from it's earlier flurry of chances created.

It was only until both sides made tactical changes that the game was to liven up again. Bolton brought on Ricardo Vaz-Te for Giannakopoulos whilst Villa introduced Luke Moore in place of Baros.

Vaz-Te's introduction once again sparked Bolton into life as it was his good hold up play on the left which gave Diouf the opportunity to score what looked to be the winner in the 82nd minute.

Diouf still had work to do before he could apply the finish but no one can ignore the assists made by Vaz-Te and Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan in the build up to the goal.

The lead was short lived though as just five minutes later Villa substitute Angel scored with his first touch of the match after fellow striker Moore had showed good play in the area.

Jay Jay Okocha curled a last gasp free kick over Sorensen's bar and Vaz-Te wasted an almost carbon copy of his Arsenal chance as Bolton where pegged back at the Reebok for the first time in months.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Joey O'Brien, Tal Ben-Haim, Bruno N'Gotty, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos (Ricardo Vaz-Te), Kevin Davies (Jay-Jay Okocha), El-Hadji Diouf

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Radhi Jaidi, Hidetoshi Nakata

Aston Villa: Thomas Sorensen, Aaron Hughes, Olaf Mellberg, Liam Ridgewell, Wilfred Bouma, James Milner (Steven Davis), Gavin McCann, Eirik Bakke, Gareth Barry, Lee Hendrie (Juan Pablo Angel), Milan Baros (Luke Moore)

Subs Not Used: Stuart Taylor, J-Lloyd Samuel

Referee:

Phil Dowd

Attendance:

23,646

Booked:

Tal Ben-Haim (Bolton)

El-Hadji Diouf (Bolton)

James Milner (Villa)

Milan Baros (Villa)

Gavin McCann (Villa)

Eirik Bakke (Villa)