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Kevin Davies scored 8 minutes from time to give Bolton a 2-2 draw against giants Bayern Munich. Bolton had travelled to Germany without injured duo Nicolas Anelka and El-Hadji Diouf, making their task even harder. But the visitors had to stick to their guns and took a shock lead with just eight minutes on the clock. A Kevin Nolan long-throw was headed out, Danny Guthrie hooked the ball back into the area and good work from Davies set up Ricardo Gardner who's shot deflected past Oliver Kahn, hitting the post on its way in. It was the Jamaican's first goal in almost five years and it sent the 4,000 travelling Bolton fans into dream land. Bayern were having plenty of possession, but were struggling to beat the Bolton defence, thus being restricted to long-range shots. However, the hosts should have equalised in the 18th minute, but Andreas Ottl's effort was over Ali Al-Habsi's crossbar. Just before the half-hour, Davies almost doubled Bolton's lead. Gavin McCann's through ball found Davies, who sidestepped Lucio before shooting agonisingly wide. Davies and Bolton were made to rue the opportunity, as Bayern equalised just a minute later. Fantastic one-touch football from the German's ended with Franck Ribery picking out Lukas Podolski, who beat Al-Habsi from the edge of the area with the outside of his boot. Al-Habsi, starting ahead of Jussi Jaaskelainen and Ian Walker kept his side in the game as the half went on, denying Ribery, Mark Van Bommel and Bastian Schweinsteiger with a string of impressive saves. But five minutes after the break, he couldn't prevent Bayern taking the lead. Ribery cut inside Gerald Cid from the right before pulling the ball back for Podolski to score his second of the game from close range. Ribery thought he had scored himself on the hour; his shot from 18 yards was destined for the bottom corner, but Al-Habsi got a strong hand to the ball and it scooped up and over his crossbar. The game went relatively quiet and that allowed Bolton to get themselves back in the game, and getting their equaliser with less than ten minutes to go. Andranik Teimourian's quick throw picked out the clever run of Nolan, who beat Lucio and Christian Lell before finding Davies who fired past Kahn with a first time effort. The Bolton players and fans alike were in a state of disbelief and despite a late effort from Van Bommell, they held on for a historic point against the German giants. Gary Megson's side host Greek outfit Aris Thessaloniki in three weeks time, but their focus now will be on Sunday's Premier League game with fellow strugglers Middlesbrough. |
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