Israeli international Ben-Haim had been faultess throughout the course of the competition and could do little about diverting Habib Beye's 68th minute cross past goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to end the Wanderers Euro hopes.

It had all looked to be going to plan in the first half as Trotters midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos gave the visitors a deserved lead in a hostile atmosphere following a gaff by L'OM keeper Fabien Barthez only to see the highly rated Franck Ribery head home an unexpected equaliser in first half injury time.

The game at the Stade Velodrome opened to a cauldron of noise every time a Wanderers player touched the ball but the jeers from the home support soon became less hostile as the first half wore on.

Marseille where seemingly physical in the opening stages as Habib Beye, Abdoulaye Meite, Lorik Cana and Ribery all tested the patience of Swiss referee Massimo Busacca.

Just over three minutes into the game the first chance fell the way of the Wanderers who won a free kick after Kevin Davies had been felled by Frederic Dehu. The much improved Jay-Jay Okocha fired in the resulting set piece which Barthez could only parry away.

Four minutes later Okocha was once again involved but this time it was for conceding a free kick at the other end when shoving countryman Wilson Oruma in the chest.

Marseille midfielder Ribery stepped forward to take the free kick just outside the area but the resulting shot proved disappointing as it cannonned off the wall for a corner.

Bolton seemed totally unfazed by the atmosphere of the home crowd and continued to plug away as if they had been involved in European football for a number of seasons.

Their reward came on twenty six minutes as Giannakopoulos gave Sam Allardyce's side an all important away goal when taking advantage of a terrible blunder from ex-Manchester United custodian Barthez.

The Marseille players had expected the customary long throw to go into the area by Okocha but the Nigerian star fooled the French by playing a one-two with Ricardo Gardner before delivering the pinpoint cross which Barthez was unable to keep hold of.

Just after the half hour mark Marseille midfielder Cana struck the side netting after a deep ball into the box from the right had been flicked on by the otherwise annonymus Mamadou Niang, this was quickly followed up at the other end by goalscorer Stelios who could not get a clean connection on his volley following a cross from Joey O'Brien.

The game was starting to liven up by this point and the Wanderers looked comfortable despite the fact that the French hosts had started to up their game slightly.

Oruma, who was so impressive in the first leg fired in a shot on the turn for Marseille shortly before the break but the Wanderers could feel hard done by some sixty seconds later as Abdoulaye Faye raced clear to fire the ball past Barthez only to be denied a goal due to a marginal offside.

Tragedy struck in the cruellest possible way for Bolton on half time as the industrious Ribery headed home a right side cross by youngster Samir Nasri to pull the French side back into the tie.

This gave Marseille fresh impetus and it showed at the start of the second half as Oruma and Nasri both tried to test Trotters keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen from long range.

On 64 minutes ex-Marseille man N'Gotty saw his well timed header cleared off the line by Dehu following Stelios deep corner. The incident was marred somewhat by the fact that Barthez had stamped on Bolton skipper Nolan before the set piece was taken

Four minutes later the winning goal was scored to eventually end Bolton's UEFA Cup journey as Stelios was unable to prevent a left wing cross by Beye making its way into the danger zone and a helpless Tal Ben-Haim could in turn only divert the ball past his own goalkeeper.

Tempers began to flare as Nolan once again clashed with clashed with Barthez at the other end whilst defender Beye had a couple of teeth knocked out after an accidental clash with Giannakopoulos.

Bolton brought on Henrik Pedersen for his first game in four months whilst youngster Ricardo Vaz-Te also entered proceedings but neither where able to help the Wanderers find the killer goal which would have turned the tie on its head again.

Unfortunately for Pedersen he was hacked down en-route to goal in the 86th minute and had to be replaced by Jared Borgetti after suffering what looked like a reoccurance of an old injury.

It was heartbreak for all connected with the Wanderers as the referee blew for time but the club can be more than proud of their achievements in the UEFA Cup this season and one would hope that this is just the beginning of many more European campaigns.

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

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

Olympique Marseille: Fabien Barthez, Demetrius Ferreira (Thomas Deruda), Frederic Dehu, Abdoulaye Meite, Habib Beye, Taye Taiwo, Wilson Oruma, Lorik Cana (Renato Civelli), Samir Nasri, Franck Ribery (Alain Cantareil), Mamadou Niang

Subs Not Used: Cedric Carrasso, Garcia Andre Luis, Christian Gimenez, Fabrice Begeorgi

Referee:

Massimo Busacca

Attendance:

Booked:

Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye (Bolton)

Habib Beye (Marseille)

Kevin Nolan (Bolton)

Lorik Cana (Marseille)

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