A late equaliser by Abdoulaye Meite earned Bolton Wanderers a 1:1 draw against Rabotnicki Kometal in the first leg of their Uefa Cup first-round tie.  Rabotnicki had the lead from the 53rd minute but Meite rescued Bolton, seven minutes from time.

It was a stroke of luck for Bolton, who had gone behind in Macedonia to a goal from Nemanja Milisavlevic in the 53rd minute. Anelka should have put Bolton ahead on the stroke of half-time when he latched onto a pass from Speed and rounded the goalkeeper but sent his effort into the side-netting. And Bolton were stunned when Milisavlevic opened the scoring. He showed a cool head to find the corner after Trickovski had lofted the ball over a flat-footed Cid.

Rabotnicki almost grabbed a second in the 59th minute after a long ball from the back. Trickovski got a good touch but clipped his effort narrowly over the crossbar after Jaaskelainen had raced off his line. Nolan sent a volley wide for Bolton and Anelka headed over as they went in search of an equaliser. It finally came in the 83rd minute when Madzovski fumbled Anelka’s free kick and Meite toe-poked the ball home – his first goal since February.

Rabotnicki: Madzovski, Stanisic, Vajs, Bozinovski, Lukmon, Demiri, Nedzipi, Osmani (Pejcic 66), Gligorov, Trickovski, Milisavljevic (Velkovski 72).
Subs: Pacovski, Gjoreski, Selim, Mensur, Sabani.
Bookings: Vajs, Nedzipi, Osmani, Milisavljevic.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Hunt (J O’Brien 76), Meite, Cid (Braaten 63), Gardner, Nolan, McCann (A O’Brien 63), Speed, Davies, Anelka, Diouf.
Subs: Al Habsi, Andrew Alonso, Teymourian, Guthrie.
Bookings: Hunt, McCann, Speed, Diouf.

Video highlights from the match (a1.com.mk):