Bolton make it a near perfect 50th for Megson

Bolton grabbed a valuable point in a scoreless draw at Wigan Saturday, giving manager Gary Megson almost the perfect 50th birthday present as they continue to stave off the threat of relegation.

With three games remaining Bolton now have 39 points and are ninth from bottom. It would effectively take some stunning results from teams below them to see them relegated.

Bolton had the best opportunity of the first-half as Gary Cahill’s thunderous effort from 20 metres out looked sure to go in but fortunately for the hosts the ball hit a Wigan player and went out for a corner.

Wigan rarely threatened the Bolton goal save two efforts from Hugo Rodallega which Finnish goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen saved.

Wigan had to readjust their defence at half-time as former Dutch international defender and club skipper Mario Melchiot could not return for the second-half as he had an unspecified injury and was replaced by Emmerson Boyce.

The home side were further debilitated early in the second-half when Austrian international defender Pasul Scharner appeared to suffer a knee injury and had to go off.

The only consolation for Wigan, who are 11th in the table, was that they ended a three-match losing run.