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A late strike from Abdoulaye Meite spared Bolton's blushes as Wanderers came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with FK Rabotnicki. Nemanja Milisavljevic opened the scoring soon after the break and it looked as though the hosts would hold on for what many would describe as a deserved victory. Rabotnicki had the first chance of the game, straight from the kick-off. Nderim Nedzipi found himself in the Wanderers penalty area before wasting his opportunity. Better control from Ivan Trickovski would have created a great chance soon after. He midfielder stole possession off Gavin McCann but a poor first touch allowed Nicky Hunt to recover and clear for a corner. The hosts should have taken the lead on 24 minutes when Nedzipi unleased a 25-yard volley which was too hot for Jussi Jaaskelainen to handle before Trickovski wasted the rebound by hitting wide. It was Bolton's turn to wonder what might have been just after the half hour. Kevin Nolan's miscued volley fell into the path of El-Hadji Diouf who somehow hit the ball over the bar from close-range. And Nicolas Anelka should have given Wanderers the lead just before the interval. The French international picked up a pass from Nolan and after beating the offside trap and rounding the goalkeeper he put his shot into the side netting. The second half started in similar fashion to the first. Trickovski ran with the ball from deep and decided to take an early shot which was easily saved by Jaaskelainen, but had he ran further with the ball, a great chance would have opened up. The Rabotnicki fans were soon sent into raptures, when Trickovski made up for his earlier miss by sending the ball over Gerald Cid's head, allowing Milisavljevic to fire past Jaaskelainen and give the Macedonian's the lead. Wanderers found themselves straight on the attack from the kick off, but Gary Speed's header from Diouf's cross was wide of goal. Trickovski wasted yet another opportunity later on, having been sent clean through, he was one-on-one with Jaaskelainen but he placed the ball over the bar with the Bolton defenders quickly tracking back to force the error. Daniel Braaten and Andy O'Brien were sent on for Gavin McCann and Gerald Cid just after the hour, before Joey O'Brien replaced Nicky Hunt on 75 minutes for his first appearance in nearly 18 months. Joey O'Brien's first piece of action saw him put a good cross in to the head of Anelka who directed the ball just over the bar. Just when Bolton were preparing for defeat, Anelka's 25-yard free-kick was fumbled by Rabotnicki goalkeeper Filip Madzowski, allowing Meite to fire home from 12-yards for his first goal in 8 months and give Wanderers an 82nd minute equaliser. That was all the players had to offer and the game faded out inside the final 10 minutes. It wasn't the result they would've hoped for before kick-off, but Bolton will go back to the Reebok with an away goal for the second-leg, making them hot favourites to advance into the group stage in two weeks time. |
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