The Wanderers under normal circumstances would have been happy at such a result but the fact that they squandered the lead on two seperate occasions will have them wondering what might have been against a Liverpool team going in search of equalling a club record eleventh straight league win.

Bolton came out of the starting blocks the quickest and marginally proved to be the better of the two sides in the opening exchanges and this was evident as early as the seventh minute when Kevin Davies looping header was saved by Spanish goalkeeeper Pepe Reina.

Two minutes later the Wanderers where in front as Stelios Giannakopoulos dangerous free kick from the left was not dealt with by the visitors defence and a mistake by Reina at the far post allowed Bolton's towering defender Radhi Jaidi a chance to head home his second goal of the season.

Liverpool created an opening on twenty four minutes as the much improved Harry Kewell headed into the path of Steven Gerrard, but the England midfielder saw his rasping drive blocked at the last minute by Bolton's Ricardo Gardner.

This attempt was followed by a low shot from all of 20-yards by veteran German midfielder Dietmar Hamann but Wanderers stopper Jussi Jaaskelainen got down well to turn the ball out of play.

Ten minutes later it was Liverpool's turn to be strong defensively as Trotters goalscorer Jaidi reacted quickly to a precise pass from the right by team-mate Giannkopoulos with the resulting shot blocked bravely by Reds centre half Jamie Carragher.

Jaidi was doing a good job in containing the aeriel threat of 6ft 7" Reds striker Peter Crouch and Florent Sinama-Pongolle was rarely given an opportunity to shine in the Liverpool forward line due to Bruno N'Gotty's performance at the heart of the Bolton defence.

Five minutes before the break Crouch could have continued his recent goalscoring form but the chance to level matters was wasted as he headed straight into the ground allowing Jaaskelainen to gather cleanly following a right wing cross by Gerrard.

Bolton striker El-Hadji Diouf was playing against his former employers for the first time since leaving Anfield in 2004 and it was fair to say that the African frontman was not given a warm welcome by his ex-team mates especially Carragher who appeared to kick out at the striker following a challenge shortly before the break.

A mini-mele followed this incident with Bolton veteran Gary Speed acting as the peacemaker but Carragher was only shown the yellow card for his unsporting actions against the often chastised Diouf.

Liverpool could have been going into the interval on level terms but a fine shot by Djimi Traore which was heading for the top corner was excellently clawed away by the ever consistent Jaaskelainen.

The hosts came back into the game in the early part of the second half and had a good chunck of the possession but it was the Merseysiders who created the first chance.

Gerrard fired in a shot in the 65th minute which went harmlessly wide but the piece of skill in the build up play was something to be admired as the energetic midfielder bamboozled the Wanderers defence.

A minute later the equalising goal came for Liverpool as Bolton's Joey O'Brien clumsily felled Gerrard in the area after a footrace leaving referee Mark Clattenburg no option but to award the spot kick.

The resulting kick was fired home well into the right hand corner by Gerrard to bring the Reds back into the game but at this stage the drama was by no means over with in the game.

The visitors introduced Spanish duo Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia in place of Hamann and the largely ineffective Sinama-Pongolle but it was former Reds player Diouf who silenced his critics when putting Bolton back into the driving seat.

Kevin Davies broke well down the left for the Wanderers and managed to time his ball perfectly for fans favourite Diouf to bundle the ball home against his former club.

The celebrations where short lived as eight minutes from time Alonso fired in a high ball to compariot Garcia who took the ball skilfully away from the otherwise faultless Gardner to fire in a low shot past Jaaskelainen.

Substitute Djibril Cisse could have won the game for Liverpool with one of his first touches in the final moments but his diving header went wide of the danger area.

Gary Speed's foot injury in the last few seconds further dampened Bolton's afternoon but they can be pleased at this result against the Champions of Europe.

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

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Jared Borgetti, Ricardo Vaz-Te

Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Steve Finnan, Sami Hyppia, Jamie Carragher, Djimi Traore, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann (Xabi Alonso), Mohammed Sissoko (Djibril Cisse), Harry Kewell, Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Luis Garcia), Peter Crouch

Subs Not Used: Scott Carson, John Arne Riise

Attendance:

27,604

Referee:

Mark Clattenburg

Booked

Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye (Bolton)

Peter Crouch (Liverpool)

Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)

Kevin Nolan (Bolton)

Mohammed Sissoko (Liverpool)

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