Bolton Wanderers have come from two goals and a man down to secure a character-building 2-2 draw with Birmingham City at Reebok Stadium.
Bolton Wanderers: 2 (Kevin Davies (p) 71', Robbie Blake 81') Birmingham City: 2 (Roger Johnson 4', Craig Gardner 50')
Venue: Reebok Stadium - Bolton, Greater Manchester Crowd: 18,139 Referee: Kevin Friend Yellow cards:BW - Kevin Davies 83', Fabrice Muamba 89' BC - Lee Bowyer 21', Roger Johnson 38', Sebastian Larsson 72' Red card:BW - Jussi Jaaskelainen 36'
Birmingham took the lead in just the 4th minute through Roger Johnson who slid in from six yards after a flick on by Cameron Jerome and the defender was later involved in an incident that saw Trotters keeper Jussi Jaaseklainen sent off.
The Finnish stopper was knocked over in a challenge with Johnson in the 36th minute and upon getting back to his feet, raised his hand to the Blues man's face and referee Kevin Friend stepped in to show a red card, reducing the home side to ten men and giving them a mountain to climb.
To make matters worse for Owen Coyle's men, Birmingham went further ahead five minutes after the re-start when Craig Gardner grabbed his third goal for the season after a miss-kick from Jaaskelainen's replacement Adam Bogdan.
But somehow Bolton managed to crawl back into the contest when Johnson fouled Kevin Davies in the area and a penalty was awarded with the Trotters' skipper stepping up to the spot and finishing calmly in the 71st minute.
A second Bolton goal came ten minutes later through substitute Robbie Blake who curled in a free-kick from the edge of the area to give his side an unlikely point in a controversial and often fiery encounter.
Starting Line-Ups
BWJussi Jaaskelainen (gk), Gary Cahill, Zat Knight, Paul Robinson, Gretar Steinsson, Stuart Holden (M.Davies 78'), Fabrice Muamba, Martin Petrov (Bogdan 39'), Lee Chung-yong, Johan Elmander (Blake 67'), Kevin Davies
Subs - Adam Bogdan (gk) (39'), Robbie Blake (67'), Matty Taylor, Samuel Ricketts, Andrew O'Brien, Mark Davies (78'), Marcos Alonso
BC Ben Foster (gk), Scott Dann, Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson, Craig Gardner, James McFadden (Derbyshire 68'), Sebastian Larsson (Fahey 76'), Cameron Jerome
Subs - Maik Taylor (gk), Garry O'Connor, Keith Fahey (76'), Matt Derbyshire (68'), Nikola Zigic, Enric Valles, David Murphy
