Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Peterborough United - match report

Posh hit the woodwork on three occasions in the second half after Gethin Jones had been shown a red card by referee Ross Joyce.

Victor Adeboyejo had cancelled out Jonson Clarke-Harris’s opener within a minute just before the break. But the final say went to Joyce – who astonishingly sent off his fourth Bolton player in the last five games he has refereed them.

That appeared to open the door for Peterborough to go on and claim their first-ever win on Wanderers soil but, in truth, Darren Ferguson’s side rather ran out of ideas in the end despite putting 25 shots on goal.

Indeed, lively cameos from subs Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Dan Nlundulu nearly inspired Ian Evatt’s side to a famous win in the dying stages.

Wanderers made two changes to the team beaten at Reading last time out, with suspended Eoin Toal replaced by Jack Iredale and skipper Ricardo Santos – who stands to miss the next three weeks with a muscular injury – exchanged for Will Forrester.

Dion Charles took his place up front despite the shoulder problem he picked up seven days earlier.

Peterborough’s lively front line asked plenty of questions in the first half, with wide centre-halves Jones and Iredale tested regularly by the pace and trickery of Ephron Mason-Clark and Ricky Jade-Jones.

Wanderers had a couple of early sighters, one from Victor Adeboyejo and another from George Thomason after a clever corner routine.

Some of Bolton’s defending around the penalty box had to be exact, such was the threat Posh offered on the counter-attack. Jade-Jones spurned a golden opportunity right in front of goal after the ball dropped to him from a set piece.

Wanderers hung in there and might have taken the lead when keeper Nicholas Bilokapic flapped at Josh Sheehan’s corner, the ball dropping to Charles but bobbling off his chest and into the side netting.

With the game simply refusing to settle and neither side able to keep possession for any great length of time, there was an air of unpredictability as the end of the first half approached.

Bolton’s work on the ball had been hit and miss throughout but when George Thomason coughed up possession deep in his own final third, there was an air of inevitability when Harrison Burrows swung in a cross from the left and the trusty head of Jonson Clarke-Harris buried the ball past Nathan Baxter.

There was hardly time to digest going behind, as less than 60 seconds later Dacres-Cogley’s low cross was fumbled by Bilokapic and Adeboyejo had prodded home his fifth goal of the season from point blank range.

Somehow there was still time for more drama in the half, with Wanderers reduced to 10 men as Jones caught flying winger Jade-Jones near the touchline.

There was a furious reaction from the technical area – Peterborough's bench off their line en mass and Evatt seeming to clash with Posh defender Burrows and earning himself a yellow card.

But referee Joyce was unmoved and he waved away the words of assistant manager Peter Atherton as the officials walked back down the tunnel at the break.

From there on in it was a case of protecting the point at all costs for the Whites.

Fans did what they could to rally the troops. But while Bolton held on by their fingernails at times, there was little nuance to what Peterborough were throwing forward.

The chances piled up. Burrows prodded a shot against the base of the post, Iredale turned Peter Kioso’s cross against the woodwork too. Hector Kyprianou also saw a header bounce off one of his own men right in front of goal.

Baxter pushed a shot from sub Joel Randall round his left-hand post and former loanee Kioso then headed inches over the crossbar from the resulting corner.

Burrows managed to strike the angle of post and bar yet again with 10 minutes to go but the 10 men of Bolton suddenly found an extra yard of energy having defended their box so manfully, and very nearly stole all three points in the dying stages.

Substitutes Dan Nulundulu and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson injected some urgency at exactly the right time, and the pair of them created a couple of half-chances to snatch an unlikely win.

Thomason capped off a tough afternoon by picking up his fifth yellow card of the season, meaning both he and Gethin Jones will be suspended for the next game against Port Vale.

In injury time Nlundulu found himself wrestled to the ground by Archie Collins on halfway as he turned towards goal – and the home crowd roared for a red to be shown. On this occasion, Joyce opted for yellow.

When the final whistle sounded, what had once looked like being a long afternoon turned into a rather positive one. A brave, if somewhat fortunate, point.