"At times we had to dig deep, but we showed our resilience and strength," says Freedman
Dougie Freedman praised a spirited performance, as Wanderers posted a point at Nottingham Forest, despite being reduced to ten men late on.
The Whites turned in a resolute defensive display and got their reward when Craig Davies levelled 15 minutes from time after Andy Reid had put the hosts in front.
Marcos Alonso was dismissed late on for a second bookable offence, but the Trotters stood strong to earn a share of the spoils.
Speaking after the game the Bolton boss said: “With the new manager, it was always going to be a difficult challenge coming to the City Ground. They had the crowd right behind him and there was a tremendous atmosphere and expectancy from the home supporters.
“We stuck at it and thoroughly deserved a point. At times we had to dig deep, but we showed our resilience and strength. I was very pleased with what I saw in terms of our performance against a very good team.
“When we equalised we began to dominate play and I felt we could have gone on and won the game.
“The sending off meant that we had to reorganise at the back. We were under intense pressure for a period, but again, we stuck together, remained strong and saw the 90 minutes out.
“We came with a game plan. We didn’t want to give too much away and I felt we stuck firmly to that plan. Later on in the game we became a handful for the opposition defence. We understand how to break teams down and I thought that after our goal we certainly had the momentum.
“On the pitch we reacted well to the sending off. We dropped Jay Spearing in at right-back and moved Tyrone Mears across to the left. The midfield did well and soaked up the pressure and defensively we remained strong.
“After our win against Burnley it is pleasing to begin this run of games by gaining a point on our travels.
“I’d like to thank the 1,500-plus fans who backed us today. They were fantastically loud and really got behind the team when Forest began to put us under pressure.
“It’s a quick turnaround now for another away game against Derby on Tuesday and we follow that up with Hull back at the Reebok.”