Bolton Wanderers 1 Olympiakos 1

Last updated : 09 August 2003 By Mark Heys
Bolton winger Stelios Giannakopoulos capped off a fine display by scoring a stunning goal against his former club Olympiakos but his goal wasn't enough to defeat the Greek Champions in an entertaining game which ended all square following a strike six minutes from time by substitute Alexandros Tatsis.

Despite some good early work by Bolton it was the Greeks and in particular Lambros Choutos and Predrag Djordjevic who where a constant menace to the Bolton defence playing some neat stuff in the midfield and opening up the Wanderers defence frequently but once again Florent Laville and Bruno N'Gotty where solid for the Trotters.

Dimitrios Mavrogenidis hit an early warning from Olympiakos on 22 minutes when he was left completely unmarked to shoot at Kevin Poole in the Whites goal, however thankfully the ball cannoned back off the post but it was a sign the away side where the toughest test of Bolton's pre-season programme so far.

Bolton brought on Anthony Barness and Danny Livesey for Laville and N'Gotty at half time but the Greeks still had a foothold on the game playing some neat stuff in the midfield and the introduction of Giovanni and the former Middlesbrough player Christian Karembeu didnt help Wanderers cause, even Bolton's playmaker Jay-Jay Okocha found things wheren't going as smooth as usual.

The home side took the lead on 68 minutes however when a stunning volley by Giannakopoulos from 20-yards gave the Reebok faithful something to smile about. This came shortly after referee Clive Wilkes had turned down a penalty appeal for the away side.

Jay-Jay Okocha could of made it 2-0 for Bolton with a fine drive which was tipped over by Greek international keeper Theo Katergiannakis however the away side got a deserved point when Tatsis fired an unstoppable shot past Poole in what was an entertaining fixture which should prepare the Wanderers well for their opening game against Manchester United next week.

Ibrahim Ba got another chance to impress when coming on for Per Frandsen on the hour, both teams had a fair amount of chances and at the end of this match id say a draw was pretty fair.