Colchester United frustrated Bolton Wanderers as they held Ian Evatt’s men to a goaless draw at the University of Bolton Stadium on Good Friday.
The hosts dominated the first half, hitting the woodwork on two occasions before seeing a perfectly good goal from Eoin Doyle chalked out for offside.
But the visitors held Wanderers and proved to be obdurate during the second-half.
Ian Evatt made just one change to his starting XI with Arthur Gnahoua coming in for George Thomason who was named among the substitutes.
Prior to kick-off, the players held a minute's applause in memory of our former striker and club legend Frank Worthington.
Wanderers began the game in good tempo and holding onto the ball for long spells, hardly giving their opponents any sight of the ball.
Declan John clipped the top of the crossbar with a well-struck free-kick after six minutes when Dapo Afolayan was hacked down just outside the box.
MJ Williams fired wide after Wanderers probed their way into an attacking position thanks to some good footwork from Afolayan and Kieran Lee.
Dean Gerken kept out a Doyle header at full stretch after the Irishman got on the end of Gethin Jones’s deflected cross.
Gerken was in the thick of the action yet again when he kept out a strong strike off Lee who received the ball after Afolayan split the defence open.
Wanderers had the ball in the back of the net after 29 minutes but Doyle’s effort was ruled out for offside when Jones’s initial effort was tipped onto the crossbar by Gerken.
Although Wanderers dominated play during the majority of the opening 45 minutes they were frustrated by Colchester.
The visitors enjoyed their best spell of the game during the opening stages of the second half, pressing Wanderers and earning a series of corners.
Noah Chilvers flashed wide with a volley to give Wanderers a scare when Miles Welch-Hayes’s header wasn’t cleared by the hosts' defence.
Evatt made a double substitution on the hour mark with Zack Elbouzedi and Marcus Maddison coming on for Nathan Delfouneso and Arthur Gnahoua respectively.
Ten minutes later, Shaun Miller came on for Afolayan as Wanderers looked to bolster their attacking options.
Gerken made an acrobatic save to keep out an Elbouzedi curler from distance after the Irishman won back possession inside the Colchester half
Lee’s corner eventually found Miller at the far post but the striker’s effort didn’t have enough power on it to trouble Gerken and United weathered the storm to hold on for a point.
Wanderers stretched their unbeaten run to 14 games and moved into third spot of the Sky Bet League Two table.
Bolton Wanderers: Gilks, Jones, John, Lee, Baptiste, Almeida Santos, Gnahoua (Maddison 61), Williams, Doyle, Delfouneso (Elbouzedi 61), Afolayan (Miller 69)
Subs Not Used: Thomason, Tutte, Isgrove, Brockbank,
Colchester United: Gerken, Welch-Hayes, Eastman, Smith, Clampin, Lapslie (Stevenson 77), Pell, Senior, Chilvers (Cowan-Hall 88), Sarpong-Wiredu, Nouble (Brown 76).
Subs Not Used: George, Doherty, Tchamadeu, Folivi.