Bolton 1 Sevilla 1: Bolton's remarkable ascent shows no signs of floundering. Ensconced in the top-six of the Premiership and on the cusp of a place in the English League Cup semi-finals, Sam Allardyce's side last night secured the point they required to reach the last 32 of the Uefa Cup. The performance was far from convincing against a weakened Sevilla side, though that should not detract from what is a considerable achievement given this is Bolton's inaugural European campaign.
Much of the credit for that must go to Allardyce, who has succeeded where many of his Premiership counterparts have failed despite the meagre resources at his disposal. Not even the sight of Adriano cancelling out Bruno N'Gotty's second-half goal could dampen the Bolton manager's spirits.
Bolton, who needed only to avoid defeat to be sure of their place in the knock-out stages, were aided by Sevilla's laissez-faire approach to this tie. The Spanish club, already through in Group H, rested eight of the side that narrowly lost to Barcelona in La Liga on Sunday.
Allardyce, no stranger to tinkering himself, made six changes to the Bolton team that was held to a 1-1 draw by Aston Villa on Saturday, though with Jay-Jay Okocha and Radhi Jaidi returning, the home side was hardly shorn of experience.
Bolton began in positive mood. They dictated proceedings, with Okocha making the most of a rare start. The Nigerian was both creator and predator as the home side sought to test their callow opponents.
His first contribution came from a long throw that Jaidi swivelled acrobatically to volley over from close to the penalty spot. Okocha followed that with a shot from the edge of the area that appeared goalbound until a deflection took it on the same path as Jaidi's.
In the second half the pace of the game became increasingly pedestrian with both sides seemly happy to maintain parity.
It was, though, a substitution that heralded Bolton's goal. Ricardo Vaz Te, who had only been on the pitch a matter of seconds, created consternation in the visitors' defence when he challenged for Khalilou Fadiga's corner.
The loose ball ran through to N'Gotty, who took a touch before hammering in his first goal for nearly two years from around eight yards.
It proved to be a short-lived lead, though, as N'Gotty hesitated, allowing Jose Marti to pick up possession. The midfielder quickly released Adriano, who, having arrived as a substitute only five minutes earlier, arrowed a right-foot shot across Ian Walker.
BOLTON: Walker, Hunt, Ben Haim, Jaidi, Gardner (N'Gotty 45), Faye (Speed 55), Diouf, Nakata, Okocha, Fadiga, Davies (Vaz Te 65). Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Nolan, Borgetti, Giannakopoulos. Booked: Nakata. Goals: N'Gotty 65.
SEVILLA: Notario, Crespo, David Prieto, Pablo Alfaro, Dragutinovic, Jordi (Adriano Correia 67), Pablo (Aitor Ocio 58), Marti, Puerta, Kepa (Saviola 73), Luis Fabiano. Subs Not Used: Palop, Kanoute, Navas, Diego Capel. Booked: Puerta. Goals: Adriano Correia 74.
Ref: Michael Weiner (Germany).
