Radhi Jaidi netted a late equaliser for Bolton Wanderers as they came from two goals behind against a Chelsea team looking for their seventh consecutive home victory.
The game had been delayed for over half an hour due to crowd congestion around the Stamford Bridge stadium and this seemed to have an effect on the Wanderers who found themselves a goal behind after just 36 seconds when former Blackburn Rovers winger Damien Duff slotted the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen for the opening goal following some good work from Lampard in the build up.
Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho almost gifted Bolton an equaliser ten minutes later after turning the ball goalwards towards his own goalkeeper Petr Cech. Luckily for Chelsea the defensive gaff went wide for a corner which Wanderers defender Radhi Jaidi was to subsequently head out of play for a goal kick.
On 20 minutes the returning Bolton skipper Jay-Jay Okocha saw his long range free kick direct off a Chelsea defender and go wide. At the other end Duff spurned an opportunity to double his tally for the afternoon when shooting directly at Jussi Jaaskelainen.
As half time approached defensive duo John Terry and Carvalho both headed over the crossbar as Chelsea piled on the pressure and looked to build on an impressive start.
Just as referee Dermot Gallager was about to blow his whistle for the break, the in form midfielder Frank Lampard blazed over the bar for the home side, whilst Wanderers Kevin Davies did likewise for the Trotters at the other end having been put in a neat position by El-Hadji Diouf.
Wanderers would have been happy to go into the interval at just one goal down, but things went from bad to worse in the opening moments of the second half as Portuguese flier Tiago scored his second goal in as many games for Chelsea on 48 minutes.
The former Benfica player had rifled a shot into the top corner past Jaaskelainen following a great piece of play from both Arjan Robben and the other goalscorer Duff.
This goal ultimately forced the visitors to up their game and five minutes after they went further behind the defacit was reduced when striker Kevin Davies added to his tally with a header past Cech following an inswinging free kick from Gary Speed.
The Czech Republic keeper will not want to see the TV replay of the goal as he was caught in no mans land when the ball by Speed was delivered into the area.
Chelsea looked to kill the game off with a third goal but were twice denied during the peak of the second half. Firstly Frank Lampard's free kick was tipped away by Jaaskelainen and then a second attempt a few minutes later saw Gudjohnsen force his the Finn into another save despite scuffing the effort.
With just over fifteen minutes of the game to go Bolton almost drew level when Gary Speed stooped to head Nicky Hunt's right wing cross towards goal, sadly the Welshman was denied his first goal in Wanderers colours by Chelsea keeper Cech, who was to save comfortably.
Gudjohnsen then had his second clear cut attempt of the game after a good switch of passes with team mate Duff. Luckily for the Wanderers their former favourite saw his resulting shot rattle off the crossbar.
This was to keep Bolton in the game and they finally got an equaliser with just three minutes of normal time remaining to become only the second team to take any points at the Bridge this season along with Spurs.
A free kick was floated into the box by Bruno N'Gotty with Kevin Davies heading the ball into the path of Jaidi who volleyed past the bemused Cech in the Chelsea goal to snatch what at one stage looked like an unlikely equaliser.
Jaidi's late goal is now his fourth of the campaign, and his third against London teams, having previously found the net in the away games at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
Bolton manage to keep up their fine unbeaten record against the top teams but do slip down the Premiership table to sixth following results from elsewhere, needless to say that it was a good fightback by the team from Lancashire.
The game had been delayed for over half an hour due to crowd congestion around the Stamford Bridge stadium and this seemed to have an effect on the Wanderers who found themselves a goal behind after just 36 seconds when former Blackburn Rovers winger Damien Duff slotted the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen for the opening goal following some good work from Lampard in the build up.
Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho almost gifted Bolton an equaliser ten minutes later after turning the ball goalwards towards his own goalkeeper Petr Cech. Luckily for Chelsea the defensive gaff went wide for a corner which Wanderers defender Radhi Jaidi was to subsequently head out of play for a goal kick.
On 20 minutes the returning Bolton skipper Jay-Jay Okocha saw his long range free kick direct off a Chelsea defender and go wide. At the other end Duff spurned an opportunity to double his tally for the afternoon when shooting directly at Jussi Jaaskelainen.
As half time approached defensive duo John Terry and Carvalho both headed over the crossbar as Chelsea piled on the pressure and looked to build on an impressive start.
Just as referee Dermot Gallager was about to blow his whistle for the break, the in form midfielder Frank Lampard blazed over the bar for the home side, whilst Wanderers Kevin Davies did likewise for the Trotters at the other end having been put in a neat position by El-Hadji Diouf.
Wanderers would have been happy to go into the interval at just one goal down, but things went from bad to worse in the opening moments of the second half as Portuguese flier Tiago scored his second goal in as many games for Chelsea on 48 minutes.
The former Benfica player had rifled a shot into the top corner past Jaaskelainen following a great piece of play from both Arjan Robben and the other goalscorer Duff.
This goal ultimately forced the visitors to up their game and five minutes after they went further behind the defacit was reduced when striker Kevin Davies added to his tally with a header past Cech following an inswinging free kick from Gary Speed.
The Czech Republic keeper will not want to see the TV replay of the goal as he was caught in no mans land when the ball by Speed was delivered into the area.
Chelsea looked to kill the game off with a third goal but were twice denied during the peak of the second half. Firstly Frank Lampard's free kick was tipped away by Jaaskelainen and then a second attempt a few minutes later saw Gudjohnsen force his the Finn into another save despite scuffing the effort.
With just over fifteen minutes of the game to go Bolton almost drew level when Gary Speed stooped to head Nicky Hunt's right wing cross towards goal, sadly the Welshman was denied his first goal in Wanderers colours by Chelsea keeper Cech, who was to save comfortably.
Gudjohnsen then had his second clear cut attempt of the game after a good switch of passes with team mate Duff. Luckily for the Wanderers their former favourite saw his resulting shot rattle off the crossbar.
This was to keep Bolton in the game and they finally got an equaliser with just three minutes of normal time remaining to become only the second team to take any points at the Bridge this season along with Spurs.
A free kick was floated into the box by Bruno N'Gotty with Kevin Davies heading the ball into the path of Jaidi who volleyed past the bemused Cech in the Chelsea goal to snatch what at one stage looked like an unlikely equaliser.
Jaidi's late goal is now his fourth of the campaign, and his third against London teams, having previously found the net in the away games at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
Bolton manage to keep up their fine unbeaten record against the top teams but do slip down the Premiership table to sixth following results from elsewhere, needless to say that it was a good fightback by the team from Lancashire.