Substitute Les Ferdinand looked to have given the Wanderers their first home victory against United in nearly thirty years with his first goal for the club before Frenchman Bellion capitalised on some indecision by Bolton defender Nicky Hunt and his goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
The first half saw the away side have plenty of the ball but as with Liverpool in the last home game the men from Old Trafford often found that the end product wasn't how they would have liked due to yet another solid central defensive display between Bruno N'Gotty and Radhi Jaidi.
Man of the moment Alan Smith forced the first save of the game when he spun away from Jaidi but fortunately for Bolton the England international shot straight into the arms of the alert Jaaskelainen.
Shortly before the half hour mark Wanderers captain Jay-Jay Okocha found Kevin Nolan down the right flank and his accurate diagonal cross into the box was just inches away from front man Kevin Davies who was steaming into the area. Within a minute of that chance Nicky Hunt had blazed over the United bar after a loose ball hadn't been dealt with by the Red Devils.
On 34 minutes United forced Jaaskelainen into a save again after a midfield ball over the top had found it's way through to midfielder Paul Scholes, the Bolton keeper got enough on it to deny the recently retired England international from opening the goal proceedings with Brazilian World Cup star Kleberson was also found wanting with the follow up shot.
As half time approached United pushed on with the game, firstly Ryan Giggs broke away from Davies down the left hand side before providing a pin point cross onto the head of the returning Ruud Van Nistelrooy, however the ex-PSV Eindhoven star could not get enough power or accuracy on his goal attempt.
The men from Manchester took the lead with just sixty seconds of the half to go as an inswinging corner from the right hand side by Giggs was headed into the penalty area by Mikael Silvestre leaving debutant defender Gabriel Heinze the simple task to follow in with the opening goal having held off the attentions of Davies.
Within sixty seconds of the re-start the state of play had been reversed as the home side came out with much more venom than they had ended the first period of the game. New signing El-Hadji Diouf was brought on for his debut for Bolton in place of the Danish international Henrik Pedersen and immediately the Liverpool player won a free kick on the Bolton left hand side having been tripped by United's Phil Neville.
Spaniard Ivan Campo was unlucky to see the resulting free kick dip agonisingly over the crossbar of Reds keeper Tim Howard who was being kept busy as was the case during his last visit to the stadium in January.
On 53 minutes the wave of second half Bolton pressure was rewarded thanks to a goal from Kevin Nolan which evened up the scoreline. Jay-Jay Okocha's initial shot was deflected into the path of the Liverpudlian and although the initial shot was saved by Howard the midfielder was on hand to head in the rebound to score his third goal in as many years against the Wanderers arch enemy.
Three minutes later Kevin Davies could have doubled the advantage for the Trotters following a good pass exchange with goalscorer Nolan. The former Southampton man played a neat one two with the midfielder before seeing his shot take the paintwork off Howard's right hand post.
Jay-Jay Okocha then had two half chances in quick succession but on each occasion the flambouyant Nigerian was denied by the United defence who had the Bolton captain strongly tracked all afternoon.
United brought on youngster Cristiano Ronaldo from the substitutes bench and he was to provide a moment of brilliance with just over a quarter of an hour remaining. The Portuguese international twisted and turned away from the attentions of Ivan Campo and Anthony Barness before firing in a superb shot which Jaaskelainen managed to tip onto the underside of the crossbar.
Debutant Diouf seemed to put himself about on his debut for Bolton and this almost reaped rewards for the loan player who saw his shot go narrowly wide of Howard's left post despite a posse of United defenders around him.
Then came the moment that seemed to have won the game for Bolton, a long ball into the box caused confusion between Silvestre and Howard which allowed former England striker Les Ferdinand a chance to steal in and score his first goal for the club much to the jubilation of the Wanderers support.
But characteristically of the away side they battled on forcing a corner through Barness back header. The resulting delivery from Ronaldo found it's way through to Smith who guided the ball on to fellow striker Bellion to level the scoreline in what appeared to show the use of a hand by the ex-Sunderland striker.
Given Bolton's second half performance a win was the least they deserved but then again given United's possession in the first half I suppose they could say that very thing. However looking at it from a wider angle Bolton can be proud of matching a team with much more money and resources than them, although the game ended all square I feel the battle for local pride lies wholely with the home side.