Reserves: Wanderers 1 Middlesbrough 1
An injury-time penalty from Bolton captain Sam Sheridan earned Alan Cork's men a priceless point.
Bolton looked set to succumb to a repeat of the previous week's defeat on Teesside when they trailed to a free-kick from Joseph Bennett.
But the Boro full-back then blotted his copy book in the dying moments when he handled a cross from Robert Lainton and Sheridan held his nerve to send goalkeeper David Knight the wrong way.
Credit should also go to goalkeeper Adam Bogdan as his superb save from Peter Gal-Andrezly in the final minute kept Bolton in the hunt as Boro were made to pay for failing to kill off the home side.
Bolton had started brightly with Nathan Wolfe almost sneaking a free-kick into the far corner and then seeing a lovely 30-yard chip bounce down off the crossbar.
But a technically impressive Boro side should have led at the break when a fine pass from skipper Richard Smallwood released Gal-Andrezly only for the little winger to fire wide.
Eight minutes into the second-half the visitors did go ahead, though, thanks to a goal borrowed from the Premier League clash between the senior sides on Saturday.
Then it was Matt Taylor who scored for Bolton with a free-kick which curled in untouched by an attacking colleague and this time Bennett had the same accuracy to leave Bogdan stranded.
Nathan Porritt then fired just wide as Boro threatened on the break and even though Bolton rallied late on, missed chances from Michael O'Halloran and Danny Ward suggested an equaliser might be beyond them.
But Bogdan's fine stop and a helping hand at the other end gave them an unlikely goal and took Bolton two points clear of Liverpool, their opponents in their final game after Wigan bring down the curtain on their home league programme next Wednesday night.
Bolton: Bogdan, Sinclair, Lainton, Sheridan (Gbemie 30 replaced by McDonald 76), Eckersley, Bennett, Mooy, Sissons, Ward, O'Halloran, Woolfe. Substitutes: Pawley, Blakeman, Spencer.
Middlesbrough: Knight, Johnson, Bennett, Edwards (Weldon 89), Hines, Grounds, Gal-Andrezly (Gray 90), Smallwood, Porritt, Martin (Otte 85), Corker. Substitutes: Steele, Shead.
Bolton looked set to succumb to a repeat of the previous week's defeat on Teesside when they trailed to a free-kick from Joseph Bennett.
But the Boro full-back then blotted his copy book in the dying moments when he handled a cross from Robert Lainton and Sheridan held his nerve to send goalkeeper David Knight the wrong way.
Credit should also go to goalkeeper Adam Bogdan as his superb save from Peter Gal-Andrezly in the final minute kept Bolton in the hunt as Boro were made to pay for failing to kill off the home side.
Bolton had started brightly with Nathan Wolfe almost sneaking a free-kick into the far corner and then seeing a lovely 30-yard chip bounce down off the crossbar.
But a technically impressive Boro side should have led at the break when a fine pass from skipper Richard Smallwood released Gal-Andrezly only for the little winger to fire wide.
Eight minutes into the second-half the visitors did go ahead, though, thanks to a goal borrowed from the Premier League clash between the senior sides on Saturday.
Then it was Matt Taylor who scored for Bolton with a free-kick which curled in untouched by an attacking colleague and this time Bennett had the same accuracy to leave Bogdan stranded.
Nathan Porritt then fired just wide as Boro threatened on the break and even though Bolton rallied late on, missed chances from Michael O'Halloran and Danny Ward suggested an equaliser might be beyond them.
But Bogdan's fine stop and a helping hand at the other end gave them an unlikely goal and took Bolton two points clear of Liverpool, their opponents in their final game after Wigan bring down the curtain on their home league programme next Wednesday night.
Bolton: Bogdan, Sinclair, Lainton, Sheridan (Gbemie 30 replaced by McDonald 76), Eckersley, Bennett, Mooy, Sissons, Ward, O'Halloran, Woolfe. Substitutes: Pawley, Blakeman, Spencer.
Middlesbrough: Knight, Johnson, Bennett, Edwards (Weldon 89), Hines, Grounds, Gal-Andrezly (Gray 90), Smallwood, Porritt, Martin (Otte 85), Corker. Substitutes: Steele, Shead.
