Bolton did all but find the net as Blackburn left the Reebok with a point to their name following a goalless stalemate.

In front of a bumper crowd of 24,778, the two fierce Lancashire rivals cancelled each other out for long periods in a game that could have gone in either direction.

The draw leaves Bolton in 15^th spot in the table with eight points registered from as many matches, with a trip to bottom placed Tottenham Hotspur lying in wait next Sunday afternoon.

The first half was devoid of any real quality with chances at a premium, although there was probably more action in the last ten minutes than there had been in the preceding 35.

Matthew Taylor, back in the side for Ricardo Gardner on the left, came close to scoring twice in quick succession. The former Portsmouth man saw a free-kick from distance tipped around the post by Paul Robinson on 18 minutes, before he failed to convert moments later after playing a one-two with Kevin Davies that had looped over the Rovers defence.

Chile wide-man Carlos Villanueva caught the eye for Blackburn and he was unlucky not to open the scoring when his snap shot from the edge of the area clipped the crossbar five minutes before the break.

Jason Roberts wasted undoubtedly the best chance of the contest shortly after when he could only glance a close-range header wide of the post. Brett Emerton had picked the forward out superbly with a cross from the right, however Roberts failed to make the necessary contact from only four yards out.

After the interval Bolton came out of the blocks the quickest as Johan Elmander, Kevin Nolan and Jlloyd Samuel all had speculative efforts that were only fractionally off target.

Indeed it was Bolton who continued to press and they were unlucky not to register a goal in a period of play when they forced four consecutive corners.

In the middle of that frantic few minutes, Andy O'Brien could have netted his first goal of the season, however he failed to get his head on Matt Taylor's inswinging delivery and the ball flew untouched right through the middle of the six yard box.

Ricardo Gardner was introduced by Gary Megson with 20 minutes remaining and within moments of entering the fray he set Matt Taylor up for what ultimately proved to be Bolton's closest effort of the game. The former Pompey man took the ball fantastically in his stride, however his curling left-foot effort clipped the outside of the post and went behind for a goal kick.

It just proved to be one of those days for Taylor and his team mates as both defences held strong for the remainder of the match.