Premier League: Ten-man Bolton fight back to draw 2-2 with Birmingham City
Bolton Wanderers came back from being two goals down to Birmingham City to draw the game at two all; this is despite the fact that the team was down to ten men halfway through the first half.
Roger Johnson opened the scoring early for the Blues, and soon after, the player was involved in getting the Bolton keeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, sent off. Soon after, Craig Gardner doubled the Blues’ lead in the second half.
Bolton's captain Kevin Davies managed to pull a goal back for the team twenty minutes from time, from the spot. Robbie Blake then went on to complete a superb comeback after curling in a signature free kick with nine minutes left on the clock.
Johnson opened the scoring for Birmingham in the fourth minute of the game after stabbing in a loose ball into the back of the post. Lee Boyer sprinted down the by line before pulling a ball back which Johnson poked into the goal.
The former Cardiff centre-back was amidst the action again ten minutes before the half time break. The defender collided with Jaaskelainen; words were then exchanged between the players and the keeper seemed to take some sort of exception to what was said, as he turned around to slap the defender. The referee had no choice but to show the keeper a red card and send him back for an early shower.
The match restarted with Bogdan taking a free kick inside the Bolton area, despite the fact that it didn't seem like the referee awarded any free kick to being with. Bolton will now be without their keeper against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester United.
In the second half, Birmingham were again on top of things, as the team created far more chances and looked to be on top of things for most of the half. However, twenty minutes from time Johnson climbed on top of Davies inside the area and the referee wasted no time in awarding a penalty kick. Davies calmly converted his spot kick and brought some life back into the game.
Blake, who had been signed by the team in the summer from Burley, had been introduced to the game just moments prior to the penalty kick. When Gary Cahill won a free kick on the edge of the box of the Birmingham goal, the former Birmingham midfielder stepped up to take it. The player, who knew just what the Birmingham keeper would do at the set piece, did brilliantly to bend a free kick out of Ben Foster’s reach and into the far top corner of the goal post.
The final few minutes of the game were much more eventful than the first seventy minutes or so. Davies struck a solid striker which ended up just wide of the near top right of the post and Bogdan then got down low to save a brilliant effort from Jerome. However, when the game ended, the scorecard read two all in both the teams’ favour, and both the teams had no choice but to share the points.
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