By David Hobbs
September 11 2004

Manchester United came back from being 2-1 down to draw 2-2 with local rivals Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium earlier today. Frenchman David Bellion struck late to cancel out Les Ferdinand's goal before Gabriel Heinze found the net on his debut.

Bellion Strike Salvages Late Point

Manchester United came back from being 2-1 down to draw 2-2 with local rivals Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium earlier today.

Frenchman David Bellion struck late to cancel out Les Ferdinand's goal before Gabriel Heinze found the net on his debut for The Red Devils. Kevin Nolan, who seems to always score against United, kept up his rich vain of goalscoring form against United and also found the net today.

Ruud van Nistelrooy returned to the United squad following his hernia he sustained in pre-season whilst Heinze made his debut in defence. Gary Neville, John O'Shea and Louis Saha were all ruled out due to respective injuries whilst Wes Brown returned to the XI.

Chances were limited at either end during the opening 45 minutes, however, Paul Scholes received the first real chance of the game but Jussi Jaaskelainen did well to stop the midfielder's shot.

Bolton's Bruno N'Gotty thought he'd stopped United a goal-scoring opportunity by blocking Ruud van Nistelrooy from goal but conceded the set-piece that created the opener.

Ryan Giggs's corner connected with Mikael Silvestre who found debutant Gabriel Heinze lurking. Heinze made no mistake re-paying the fans for his neglecting the club by smashing home his first goal in United colours to round-up the first half.

Just 6 minutes after the interval, Kevin Nolan hit-back with an equaliser. Jay Jay Okocha's powerful effort was parried into the path of Kevin Nolan by Tim Howard, who was left to watch Nolan convert into an open net.

Nolan was in the thick of things yet again. This time he linked up well with Kevin Davies and released Davies to fire just wide of the post, all thanks to Mikael Silvestre's sloppy defending.

United surged for a winner, introducing skilful Cristiano Ronaldo after the hour mark. The Portuguese youngster lashed the crossbar soon after his arrival.

A melee in the United box started Bolton's 90th minute goal. Tim Howard failed to hold a free kick whipped into the box and a lack of communication between both Howard and Silvestre ended up in substitute Les Ferdinand hitting back.

Just as Bolton thought they had 3 points in the bad, substitute David Bellion got the final touch on a surge forward to seal a point for United, who are 9 points behind Arsenal in the league table.

Final Score: Bolton Wanderers 2 - Manchester United 2

United: Howard, P.Neville, Brown, Silvestre, Heinze, Kleberson (Ronaldo 64), Keane, Scholes, Giggs, van Nistelrooy (Bellion 74), Smith