Hasselbaink's firepower gives Bolton the blues

If Chelsea's band of mercenaries have under-achieved in recent seasons it is perhaps that they lacked the grit and resilience needed to turn talent into titles.

Well, maybe now they have found it. The Chelsea of old may have let their heads drop when Bolton took the lead on the hour against the run of play, and thrown in the towel when the full-back Celestine Babayaro was sent off for elbowing the goalscorer Henrik Pedersen. But the Chelsea that had kept five clean sheets prior to this match and climbed to third place in the Premiership were not going to let that hard work slip away. With stoppage time looming, Gianfranco Zola crossed from the left and the substitute Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink salvaged a point with a header which eluded Bolton's goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, and dropped in at the far post.

Chelsea slipped to fourth but their manager, Claudio Ranieri, was not dismayed. "Now there is a new Chelsea,'' he said. "We play always for one result. We try to win against everybody.'' But neither deserved to lose a pulsating encounter in which the initiative swung from one to the other as both chose to attack at every opportunity.

Bolton, who put four past Leeds six days earlier, started the brighter. Jay-Jay Okocha curled a shot from the edge of the penalty box just wide of the near post and the striker Youri Djorkaeff's stinging drive from 25 yards put Chelsea's keeper Carlo Cudicini on his mettle.Then Paul Warhurst sent the lively Pedersen racing down the right, but the Dane pulled his cross too far back with Djorkaeff steaming in on goal.

Chelsea began to live up to their growing reputation, and not surprisingly it was the former Bolton striker Eidur Gudjohnsen who showed he knew his way around the Reebok stadium. Zola's little flick beyond a square defence caught him marginally offside, but when the pair combined again Warhurst had to nip in to deny the Icelander with his goalkeeper beaten.

William Gallas, pushing forward from the back, also troubled the Bolton rearguard with a goal-bound header that was hooked off the line.

And Gudjohnsen showed why he is attracting Manchester United's interest when he burst forward from midfield to unleash a 20-yard drive that Jaaskelainen did well to cling on to. But Bolton again took control and Cudicini, determined to keep a sixth successive clean sheet, palmed away a fierce angled drive from Per Frandsen and turned a powerful Djorkaeff shot round the post.

Ranieri brought Hasselbaink off the bench at half-time as an additional striker, with Zola dropping back into the "hole'' and he quickly gave notice of what was to come, forcing Jaaskelainen to deflect his rising drive over the crossbar.

Mario Melchiot twice went close as Chelsea surged back, but just when it seemed they would break the deadlock their own defence was finally breached.

On the hour, Warhurst broke clear to relieve the pressure and released a dipping 25-yard drive that Cudicini did well to tip over. But from the resulting corner Djorkaeff picked out Pedersen unmarked on the six-yard line and his powerful header gave the goalkeeper no chance.

Kevin Nolan should have doubled Bolton's advantage but shot tamely with only the goalkeeper to beat. Pedersen then raced clear of the Chelsea defence and rounded Cudicini but pushed the ball wide.

Babayaro was dismissed but Chelsea's 10 men pressed forward and earned their belated reward. As Bolton's manager, Sam Allardyce, said later: "We had chances to finish them off, but we just didn't take them.''

Bolton Wanderers 1
Pedersen 63

Chelsea 1
Hasselbaink 90

Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 25,476