[NWhiteley]

I was one of the lucky fans, to have witnised one of the greatest results in little Boltons footballing history. Being amonst the estimated 5 thousand travelling supporters, including those that had to get tickets in the home end, i can honestly say that, i, and all those present will never forget that cold night in Munich, when Bolton walked away with a point against a team packed full of world class players.

The trip began at 5AM on Wednesday morning with a few, much needed pints, at Manchester Airport. Munich was cold, windy and very wet, but it didnt matter, as the BierKellers were very welcoming. After a bit of sight seeing, mainly in the local pubs and with most fans the worse for drink, it was back to hotel.

Thursday brought much better weather and a fresh need of beer. So, back into the town centre, but rather going straight back to the pub, we have a scout round to find somewhere that sells AV equipment. I was looking to get a price comparison and possible demo of the new PJ's that have just been released, but alas no where even sold TV's, except a place called Saturn. The only thing of interest in there, was the new 58" PZ series Panasonic plasma.
Ah well, back to Bierkeller we go. What a hard life .

To the match and stadium.... What stadium they have, it can seen from miles away, lit up bright red. As we got closer to the ground, the size and scale of the thing is become more and more impressive. Once inside, things just get better, it is modern, spacious and the view, just stunning. It reminded me of my first vist to the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, not quite as big, but the very special, all the same.

During the opening few minutes of the game, Bolton were on top, resulting in the opening goal. If we, as expected, then conceded a few goals, it wouldnt have mattered one bit. We had taken lead against the favourites for the tournament making the whole trip worth while.

As the game moved on, Munich got better and better, and the enevitable happened, and they equalised with about 30 minutes gone. With Frank Ribery at the heart of everything they did, he gave one of the best performances i have ever seen on a football pitch. He was instumental in giving the hosts a 2-1 lead early in the second half, and at this point I, along with every other Bolton fan, was fearing the worst. It seemed to be a damage limitation exercise now, and an embarassing score line seemed enevitable.
But then, the Bayern manager brought on a sub. He replaced the best player on the park, Ribery, and we sensed something may change now. Bolton upped their game, and it payed dividends. A quick throw in, controlled by Nolan and then a dink over 2 defenders and Davis thumped the ball in to the back the net. That was as good a moment as i have every had in 25 years of supporting Bolton. That was the ended of the scoring, but both teams had chances to win it the outragous 5 minutes of injury time. When the final whistle came, it was with a sense of relief, amazement and then total jubilance.

Ginger Mourinio, as Gary Megson is now know up here, had most of his first team missing, while Bayern had a full team on the pitch, along with a incompetent referee who wore a Bayern shirt last night, make this result all the sweeter. I may now travel to Belgrade early next month to watch the BWFC European tour continue.

[JohnG]

I watched this on the telly and enjoyed it, Bolton played with lot of spirit and did far better than I thought they would.
I have been predicting bad things for Bolton under Megson after what he did for us at Forest, let's hope I'm wrong

[NWhiteley]

You're not alone in that, i was hoping that we keep the score down to around 3 or 4 nil. As for Megson, he seems to be similar to Allardyce and that works for us. Only time will tell if he can over acheive as Allardyce did.

[city fan]

I saw some of it on TV. When Bayern got the second, I was sure it was all over. Ribery was playing a blinder, what a player, Bolton could get no where near him.

He's then taken off . What a mistake by their Manager.

Still you boys hung in there and fair do's. Serves the krauts right, thinking they had the game won.

[NWhiteley]

Originally Posted by city fan

I saw some of it on TV. When Bayern got the second, I was sure it was all over. Ribery was playing a blinder, what a player, Bolton could get no where near him.

He's then taken off . What a mistake by their Manager.

Still you boys hung in there and fair do's. Serves the krauts right, thinking they had the game won.

Im still in shock now, and still sobering up. Ribery was simply awesome, taking him off swung the game in our favour. I have no doubt that if he had stayed on until the final whistle, the result would have been totally different.

[JohnG]

John Helm annoyed me - how many times can one commentator get the phrase "you have to hand it to Gary Megson..... "

[overkill]

Originally Posted by city fan

I saw some of it on TV. When Bayern got the second, I was sure it was all over. Ribery was playing a blinder, what a player, Bolton could get no where near him.

He's then taken off . What a mistake by their Manager.

Still you boys hung in there and fair do's. Serves the krauts right, thinking they had the game won.

Agree with all that.........

Ribery was tearing Bolton apart, then the manager takes him off! Maybe the fact that they have a big game coming up at the weekend (Stuttgart away) prompted that? Full credit to Bolton though for riding out the storm and coming back to get a draw.