The first and perhaps most blatent incident occured midway through the first half as Marseille's experienced centre half Frederic Dehu appeared to raise a hand when challenged by Jared Borgetti following Stelios Giannakopoulos dangerous curling corner from the right.

Two other appeals for a home penalty involving Giannakopoulos and Davies where also turned away by the referee in the second half as Wanderers huffed and puffed in an attempt to take a good lead over to the Stade Velodrome in just over a week from now.

In the opening exchanges there was some very high tempo passing football being played and both sides forced a corner each within the first five minutes, but it was hosts Bolton who forced the first real save out of the visiting keeper Fabien Barthez on seven minutes.

Nigerian midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha celebrated a rare start by firing in a rasping drive which stung the fingertips of the former Manchester United custodian Barthez when collecting a neat lay off on the edge of the area.

Attacking left sider Taye Taiwo showed why he is so highly rated by the French club as he had two of the visitors opportunities to break the deadlock in the first half.

He fired in the first attempt from distance on 19 minutes with the second opportunity coming a minute before half time after he eluded Abdoulaye Faye's challenge.

Fortunately, the home side saw goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen in top form to tip the ball away and there was a lot more to come from the Finnish international in the second half.

Marseille midfielder Wilson Oruma was having an excellent game against countryman Jay-Jay Okocha in the midfield area and it was he who fired in the first real opportunity after the interval.

The French side could have taken the lead on 50 minutes when the pacy Mamdou Niang took advantage of an error from former Marseille defender Bruno N'Gotty to race clear in a one on one situation but man of the match Jaaskelainen pawed the ball away from the Senegal striker as he prepared to shoot.

Gary Speed entered the fray in place of Okocha for Bolton despite having only played the opening half during last night's reserve draw with Aston Villa after over a month of injury woe.

Youngster Ricardo Vaz-Te also came on in place of Mexican striker Borgetti as Kevin Davies moved back into his more central role at the heart of the Wanderers attack.

In the closing twenty minutes Sam Allardyce troops had started to get a foothold on the game in the final third and it was more than evident as both visiting goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and his full back Demetrius Ferreira where cautioned by the referee for their over theatrical protests.

The highly rated Franck Ribery had worked hard for the French side throughout the evening but his effort from the edge of the area was comfortably gathered by Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.

Bolton thought they had won the game when in injury time as Stelios Giannakopoulos headed Ricardo Gardner's cross goalwards only to find that the ball bounced off the side netting much to the confusion of some parts of the crowd who thought a winning goal had been scored.

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

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Nicky Hunt, Radhi Jaidi, Oscar Perez, Jarostaw Fojut

Olympique Marseille: Fabien Barthez, Demetrius Ferreira, Habib Beye, Frederic Dehu, Bostjan Cesar, Taye Taiwo, Samir Nasri (Christian Gimenez), Lorik Cana, Wilson Oruma, Franck Ribery, Mamadou Niang (Alain Cantareil)

Subs Not Used: Cedric Carrasso, Jose Delfim, Abdoulaye Meite, Renato Civelli, Thomas Deruda

Referee:

Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal)

Attendance:

19,288

Booked:

Wilson Oruma (Marseille)

Lorik Cana (Marseille)

Bostjan Cesar (Marseille)

Fabien Barthez (Marseille)

Demetrius Ferreira (Marseille)

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