Minnows stay at the bottom

Ten minutes later Sunderland suffered another setback when key midfielder Claudio Reyna twisted a knee and had to go off. But their new manager Howard Wilkinson, who replaced the sacked Peter Reid two weeks ago, finally had something to smile about when Gray’s shot swerved beyond the reach of Jussi Jaaskelainen and in off a post.

Bolton had barely mustered a shot on goal in a ragged performance but took a point after Sunderland failed to clear a long throw in the 80th minute, the ball eventually skidding off Babb’s head and into his own net.

The draw was of little use to either side. Bolton remain last, on eight points, with Sunderland one place and one point above them Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was disappointed to yet again concede an early goal.

“It was exactly what we expected — a nervous, scrappy affair at times, but going behind makes life difficult for us,” he told Sky Sports TV. “Our problem is that we give our defenders nothing to hold on to,” added Allardyce, who changed his regular formation to five at the back in a bid to end the run of defeats. Wilkinson said he was pleased with his side’s performance. “It took me until the West Ham game (a 1-0 home defeat last week) to realise how deep the run had got into their skins,” he said.