Rabotnicki will be ruing a host of missed chances as they were held to a 1:1 home draw by the lucky Bolton. The Premiership outfit were second best throughout the game and only a late equaliser through Abdoulaye Meite spared their blushes and put them in comfortable position ahead of the second leg. The hosts missed several chances before Nemanja Milisavljevic finally opened the score shortly after the break. Yet, the Macedonians failed to increase their advantage and were left to rue a lapse of concentration late on.

Dragoljub Behlavac was missing the suspended defensive duo Dimitrija Lazarevski and Zeljko Kovacevic and therefore handed starts to Lazar Stansic and Vasko Bozhinovski. Minas Osmani and Nikola Gligorov were handed starts in midfield as Blaze Iljoski and
Bojan Mihajlovic were out injured. Bolton's Sammy Lee handed Kevin Davies a first start since the first day of the season as he came on for Mikel Alonso while Gerald Cid was handed a recall at the back.

Rabotnicki could have taken the lead as early as the first minute when Jussi Jaaskelainen made a hash of an easy ball but Ivan Trickovski failed to bury it from close range. Bolton look shaken by the hostile atmosphere and the aggressive approach from the hosts and looked like a second-rate team in comparison to the Macedonians. Ndeirm Nedzipi forced a good save by the Bolton keeper after unleashing a powerful drive but the Finn was lucky that the two Rabotnicki players were not quick enough to pounce on the rebound. Bolton finally found their rhythm by the end of the half and El-Hadji Diouf wasted a good chance following a good set-up by Davies. Nicolas Anelka had the best chance of the half when he breezed past the home defence and rounded off the keeper only to see his effort hit the site netting.

Rabotnicky were quickly out of the blocks after the restart as Trickovski forced a sharp save by Jaaskelainen after powering a well-taken shot.There was no reprieve a few minutes later when the Bolton defenders failed to clear an easy ball and Milisavljevic fired in a superb drilling drive past the keeper. Bolton tried to respond in style but Gary Speed wasted a promising opening by blasting high and wide. Instead, it was Rabotnicky who were pressing for more with Trickovski again testing Jaaskelainen. Bolton had half chances though Kevin Nolan and Anelka before they rescued a late and quite lucky equaliser. An Anelka free-kick looked an easy catch for Filip Madzovski but he failed to deal with the ball and Meite was the first to arrive and slot home.

Rabotnicki were certainly the better team and deserved much more from the game. They face a big test in England in two weeks' time but if they play like this again and use their chances better, they certainly have a chance. Bolton put a really lacklustre display and will surely need to improve in the second leg.