THE Birmingham camp rushed to the defence of Per Frandsen after his sixth minute elbow ended the day for Blues skipper Martin O'Connor.

A 20,000 crowd called for Frandsen to be dismissed and booed his every touch following the challenge which laid the midfield hard man out cold.

Referee Steve Dunn saw it as unintentional and did not book the Dane. And it was a view shared by Blues boss Trevor Francis and centre half David Holdsworth.

Francis said: "I was sitting in front of the incident and it was an accident. I have no complaints with the challenge at all."

Holdsworth added: "It was not an intentional elbow. Bolton don't have players like that. They are not that kind of side."

Holdsworth admitted it was a disappointing day for him after missing the chance to play against his brother, losing his place in the starting line-up - although he was called off the bench after just six minutes - and then seeing victory snatched from them by a horrendous goalkeeping error.

"The thought of playing against Dean is always special," he said.

"We used to talk about it in the lead up to a game but I've stopped listening to him now because he tries to be cagey, saying he's not going to be fit when he is.

"The last couple of times though it's backfired because he hasn't been fit.

"I spoke to him an hour before the game and he told me he wasn't fit enough and he didn't want to let anybody down which is typical of Dean."

He added: "Bolton are a good side who break very well although they didn't really have too many shots. We dominated the game and were far superior for most of the time.