Coyle hails battling Bolton

Bolton manager Owen Coyle heaped praise on his players for their fighting spirit which saw them clinch a point against Blackpool.

Despite dominating the majority of the first half, the Trotters found themselves 1-0 down when Ian Evatt evaded his marker to flick home an Elliot Grandin corner.

Luke Varney then doubled the visitors' lead with a similar header early in the second half which led to Coyle bringing on attacking reinforcements in the shape of Rodrigo, Ivan Klasnic and Martin Petrov.

And those substitutions proved an inspired choice as each had a hand in Petrov's volley for 2-1 before Mark Davies rounded off an impressive team move in the 89th minute.

"I think we started well and had a couple of half-chances to get in front but we didn't take them," said Coyle.

"They scored a great goal from a corner and all of a sudden it gave them a lift and we lost our way a bit.

Bad luck

"We had a bit of bad luck for the second goal as Jussi Jaaskelainen and Gary Cahill collided with each other and that allowed the ball to go over the line.

"At 2-0 down at home we made substitutions - and I'm not being smart after the event - but I was prepared to lose the game 3-0 or 4-0 to get back into it.

"We effectively ended up with six attacking players on the pitch and the last 25 minutes we have scored two goals and could have scored four or five.

"We could have snatched, and snatched is what it would have been because Blackpool were terrific, the three points.

"We committed many players forward and were prepared to leave ourselves open so it is always nice from a manager's point of view when that goes your way and it works for you.

"The spirit we showed and the quality of the [second] goal in terms of passing was pleasing."