Report: Nottm Forest 1-1 Wanderers
Wanderers battled to a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest, with Craig Davies again coming off the bench to score a crucial goal.
All the talk pre-match was about Billy Davies’ return to the City Ground, but Dougie Freedman’s side ensured there was no winning start to the Forest manager’s second spell in charge.
There were two changes to the side that beat Burnley seven days previous, with Mark Davies coming in for Chris Eagles and Kevin Davies replacing Marvin Sordell in the starting 11.
The home side looked lively in the opening stages and Adam Bogdan was called into action twice in quick succession in the opening five minutes, first palming away Henri Lansbury’s shot and then denying Radoslaw Majewsi with his legs.
The Hungarian was tested again in the 23rd minute, when he turned Andy Reid’s swerving effort behind for a corner.
Forest had another chance ten minutes later when Simon Cox managed to get the wrong side of the Whites defence. The Ireland international got his shot away, but Bogdan once again was equal to it.
After the restart both sides began to create openings, but it was the hosts who took the lead on the hour mark when Reid fired home a low, left-footed drive.
There was almost a swift response as Kevin Davies latched onto a wayward back-pass from the Forest defender, but the skipper was thwarted by the on-rushing Karl Darlow.
As was the case in the victory over Burnley, Freedman introduced Craig Davies and David Ngog as second half substitutes, replacing Lee and Kevin Davies respectively, and the pair combined to produce an equaliser in front of the 1,500 travelling Wanderers fans.
Jay Spearing released Ngog down the right and the Frenchman cut the ball back for the in-coming Craig Davies who found the bottom corner with a first-time strike.
The task was made a little harder when Marcos Alonso was given his marching orders with ten minutes still to play for a second bookable offence, and there was a roar from the home crowd when the fourth official indicated five minutes of added time, but Bolton stood firm to grind out point.
Nottingham Forest: Darlow, Jara, Ward, Halford, Cohen, Lansbury (McGugan 81), Guedioura, Majewski, Reid, Cox (Henderson 84), Sharp (Blackstock 68) (Unused substitutes: Al-Rashidi, Collins, Moussi, Greening)
Wanderers: Bogdan, Mears, Knight, Dawson, Alonso, Spearing, Pratley, M. Davies, Chung-Yong (C. Davies 65), De Ridder (Eagles 58), K. Davies (Ngog 72) (Unused substitutes: Lonergan, Wheater, Ricketts, Sordell)