WE WERE LUCKY, ADMITS ALLARDYCE
Bolton boss Sam Allardyce admitted his side had "got out of jail" after their hot-tempered 1-1 stalemate with Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Jean Tigana's runaway leaders will consider the result two points dropped after failing to capitalise on a host of chances.
Fulham striker Luis Boa Morte was sent off after an ugly clash with Bolton's Robbie Elliott as tempers boiled over.
Earlier Per Frandsen's free-kick six minutes after the interval had equalised Barry Hayles' first-half opener for the Cottagers.
And the Wanderers manager believed his men had benefited from some luck in the top-of-the-table clash.
He said: "We got out of jail. We had to defend very desperately and we needed a bit of luck and we had that.
"We played far too deep in the first half and gave Fulham too much space - as a result they scored and they deserved it.
"But our equaliser was a super free-kick. Whether we deserved the draw or not is not the point at this stage of the season.
"We had a bit of luck and if we'd lost today the players would have lost confidence after the Blackburn game and this one.
"They battled hard to get a draw and Fulham will be frustrated with just one point."
Meanwhile Fulham midfielder Lee Clark claimed that his team-mates needed to be more ruthless if they wanted to secure Premiership promotion as soon as possible.
He said: "We are very disappointed to say the least.
"We dominated the game whereas they had just two shots in the whole 90 minutes but all credit to the Bolton defenders.
"Our performance is good but we didn't finish them off - we need to be more ruthless in front of goal.
"It's in our own hands now but the promotion battle won't be settled until the last few weeks of the season."
Source sportinglife