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Match Report
Portsmouth v Bolton 01 February 2006
Karadas saves Pompey
Portsmouth 1 - 1 Bolton
Azar Karadas scored with just five minutes to go to claim a point for Portsmouth as they drew 1-1 with Bolton Wanderers.
Khalilou Fadiga had given Bolton the lead on 69 minutes, but Bolton will look back on the missed penalty from the Senegalese playmaker as the reason three points went begging.
Portsmouth deserved to take something from the game and finally broke a solid Bolton defence with Karadas' excellent strike on 85 minutes.
The hosts started the game with no fewer than six January signings in the side, with Andres D'Alessandro handed his debut following his loan move from Wolfsburg on deadline day. Sam Allardyce began the game with Matt Jansen partnering Kevin Davies up front whilst Joey O'Brien filled the midfield void left by Ivan Campo's foot injury.
The newly-constructed Portsmouth midfield began brightly, playing some nice one-touch football, with Wayne Routledge providing the step-overs down the left and causing Ricardo Gardner all sorts of problems.
However, for all their fancy footwork, Pompey failed to produce in the final third, with all their best chances coming from speculative efforts from outside the area.
Sean Davis and D'Alessandro both sent shots over Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal whilst a Pedro Mendes effort with the outside of his foot almost caught the Finn out as he spilt the original shot but claimed the ball at the second attempt.
Meanwhile, at the other end Stelios Giannakopoulos was the main outlet for Bolton, snatching at an effort after Portsmouth's defence failed to clear Fadiga's free-kick, before causing controversy on the stroke of half time after going down under a challenge from Dean Kiely.
Having been put through on goal by Matt Jansen, the Greek midfielder fell under the challenge of Kiely and referee Dermot Gallagher pointed to the spot.
Fadiga stepped up to take the penalty, but sent his effort high and wide from 12 yards.
The second half was a far livelier affair, with both sides looking to attack in numbers rather than leave it to the front men.
The two sides' O'Briens both went close early in the half, Joey first as he shot well over after picking up the ball following a scrap in the Portsmouth box whilst Andy glanced a header past the far post after a superb free-kick from D'Alessandro.
New signing Benjani Mwaruwari almost lit up Fratton Park only to be denied a goal by a Tal Ben Haim deflection following the Israeli's excellent challenge. Having turned the Bolton defence, Benjani unleashed a fierce shot on goal but Ben Haim's last-gasp tackle denied him.
Fadiga redeemed himself for his penalty miss on 69 minutes, curling a free-kick into the far corner of Kiely's goal.
The goal will go down as a defensive howler as Fadiga's cross-shot missed everybody on its way towards goal, with goalkeeper and defender leaving it for each other.
The goal sparked Portsmouth to life, Jaaskelainen scrambling to his right to deny Matthew Taylor's curling free-kick before the goalkeeper had Joey O'Brien to thank for his goal line clearance from substitute Svetoslav Todorov.
Pompey finally made their pressure count as Karadas superbly finished Routledge's cross.
After a nice build up, Karadas turned his body and in one movement volleyed powerfully towards goal where Jaaskelainen could only fist the ball into the top corner.
Ricardo Vaz Te almost stole it in the final seconds for Bolton, but he stabbed the ball inches wide after Bruno N'Gotty's free-kick was not cleared, however the game deservedly ended in a draw.
| Portsmouth | Team Name | Bolton | | 1 | Goals | 1 | | 4 | Shots on target ( Inc Goals ) | 2 | | 8 | Shots off Target (inc woodwork) | 7 | | 1 | Blocked Shots | 0 | | 6 | Corners Won | 4 | | 12 | Total Fouls Conceded | 10 | | 1 | Offsides | 5 | | 0 | Yellow Cards | 0 | | 0 | Red Cards | 0 | | 50% | Possession | 50% |
Report From 
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