Owls hold Trotters
Struggling Bolton and Sheffield Wednesday battled it out for a point apiece in a thrilling clash at the Reebok in the Sky Bet Championship.
Jermaine Beckford got his second goal in as many games to open the scoring for Bolton before Alex Baptiste headed in his own net to make it 1-1.
Wednesday then had Jermaine Johnson's header disallowed before Jose Semedo was then sent off six minutes before the end. That pressure meant that Chris Kirkland had to produce two wonder saves to seal a point for the Owls.
The visitors had the first chance as Michail Antonio broke through the middle and found Giles Coke, who placed his shot just wide.
They were in again shortly after, as Matty Fryatt played a one-two with Coke giving the former Leicester marksman just Adam Bogdan to beat.
But the Hungary international produced a smart stop to keep the home side level, and, just moments later, they made the most of that reprieve.
Neil Danns produced a sublime flick to Beckford, who stroked his left-footed strike beautifully into the top corner of the net to give Bolton the lead 16 minutes in against the run of play.
But Wednesday deservedly hit back 10 minutes later in fortuitous circumstances.
Jeremy Helan put in a teasing cross, which Wanderers centre-back Baptiste could not help but nod back past Bogdan and level the score. Despite the Owls having the lion's share of possession, that was the way it stayed until the break.
The South Yorkshire outfit continued to be on the front foot in the opening stages of the second half with Helan their main threat.
Firstly, the 21-year-old Frenchman's close-range strike saw Bogdan parry the ball onto his post.
His threatening cross in then saw Antonio rifle a volley inches wide.
But all that hard work then could have been in vain as Kamil Zayatte could have gifted the Trotters a penalty after he needlessly pushed Beckford over in the penalty area.
Lee Chung-yong cut a ball back inside to Chris Eagles in the box but the former Manchester United winger ballooned his effort over the crossbar.
But any Bolton resurgence was quickly halted when the visitors looked to have taken the lead.
Steve McPhail's crossed in a free-kick which deflected back to Jermaine Johnson, who headed past Bogdan.
However, assistant referee Sian Massey ruled that players in offside positions were impeding the Wanderers keeper, disallowing the goal to the anger of the Wednesday bench.
The Trotters bench then felt aggrieved themselves when Rob Hall was taken down in the box by McPhail.
Any chance of a late winner for the Owls was then cast in doubt when Semedo was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Jay Spearing six minutes before the end.
Tim Ream and Baptiste had both their last-gasp headers superbly saved by Kirkland, as the visitors deservedly held on for a point.
Source: PA
