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Barney Ronay at The Guardian
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Fulham 1 Bolton Wanderers 1
Bolton have long had a reputation for winning ugly. On a chilly afternoon at Craven Cottage they will have been happy to draw ugly, taking a point against a dominant Fulham team that will come as some relief to Gary Megson after a run of four defeats in five games.
Roy Hodgson described the result as "a draw that could have been a victory", which was putting it mildly as Fulham controlled the game for pretty much the entire second half. Still, he was pleased to emerge from three games in a week - after trips to Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers - with four points.
"Any manager you ask, they will tell you games against Bolton and Blackburn are hard and I must give a lot of credit to Bolton's resolute back four and their goalkeeper today." Scoring goals has been as much of a problem for Megson's team as keeping them out. Last season's leading scorer Kevin Davies has scored just twice this season, but has committed the most fouls in the Premier League and he was into his stride here in the third minute, lunging at Aaron Hughes and earning himself a booking, the first of six for Bolton in a bruising match.
Fulham made what early running there was as Bolton remained compressed inside their own half behind a five-man midfield with Davies a hulking but one-paced right-winger. On 17 minutes Erik Nevland's close-range shot after a melee at a Fulham corner was hacked off the line by Gretar Steinsson with Jussi Jaaskelainen beaten.
The Bolton manager Gary Megson will be glad of a point after his side were out-passed comprehensively by Fulham, who completed 476 passes to Bolton's 230, the highest and lowest in any of the day's Premier League matches. But for all Fulham's midfield embroiderings it was Bolton who took the lead on 35 minutes.
Ivan Klasnic scored the goal, turning on to a Gary Cahill knockdown and slipping the ball low into the corner after a throw from the right had caused disarray in the Fulham defence. Brede Hangeland, in particular, was brushed aside rather too easily by the Croat. Hodgson said he was "disappointed" with the way the goal was conceded but paid tribute to the finish. "We know Klasnic has great quality. That's what he does."
After taking the lead Bolton began to impose their own muscular stop-start tempo on the game, winning a succession of free-kicks and even keeping the ball with some élan as half-time arrived.
As they had after going behind at Birmingham last weekend, Fulham emerged energised after the break. Prompted by the manoeuvrings of Clint Dempsey and Damien Duff they began to stretch the Bolton defence. From Duff's corner on 60 minutes Matthew Taylor headed the ball off the line from a Dempsey header.
The goal arrived on 74 minutes, the excellent Duff taking a pass on the left of the area from Zoltan Gera and shooting low and hard into the far corner. After which Fulham continued to apply some occasionally helter-skelter pressure without creating any clear openings. On 90 minutes Dempsey advanced towards goal and could only shoot high and wide. Both teams, by that stage, seemed happy enough with a hard-won point.
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