Match Report : 19/01/2013

Dougie Freedman’s Whites put in a solid defensive display against the high-flying Londoners and created plenty of chances themselves, but the game finished goalless.

There were five changes from the side that won at Sunderland in midweek. Adam Bogdan came back into the side and Tim Ream started alongside Zat Knight in the centre of defence, replacing Sam Ricketts.

Josh Vela, Benik Afobe and Marvin Sordell all dropped to the bench as Keith Andrews, Chung-Yong Lee and skipper Kevin Davies returned to the starting 11.

The Whites could have opened the scoring inside the opening 20 seconds when Chris Eagles was allowed to advance into the Palace half, but his shot fizzed past Julian Speroni’s left-hand post.

And the Bolton number 7 had another crack in the 23rd minute. Zat Knight played a perfect diagonal pass forward to Kevin Davies, and he laid the ball off for Eagles, whose shot was on target but palmed away by Speroni.

Wanderers continued to create the better openings and Darren Pratley was next to go close. Eagles was again involved, combining brilliantly with Tyrone Mears down the right-hand side, and the latter whipped in a superb cross, but Pratley’s diving header flashed wide.

The hosts could have taken the lead just past the hour, when Wilfried Zaha’s shot came back off the inside of the post and the rebound from substitute Andre Moritz bobbled wide.

Freedman’s side responded and minutes later, after an in-swinging corner from Eagles was not cleared, Marcos Alonso saw a shot from the edge of the area deflected behind, as Wanderers continued to build pressure.

Both sides searched for a late winner, and Bogdan was forced into a superb stoppage-time save when Alex Marrow fired through a forest of bodies, but the Hungarian reacted brilliantly to preserve Wanderers’ clean sheet.