Portsmouth’s League One promotion party on hold as Bolton fight for draw

Aaron Collins equalises for Bolton against Portsmouth in League One. Photograph: Gary Oakley/Getty Images

Portsmouth cannot celebrate promotion from League One, after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Bolton, but they can now smell the end of a 12-year Championship absence with three games of the season remaining.

With second-placed Derby triumphant over Leyton Orient, this draw proved more damaging for Bolton, whose fate for promotion is now out of their hands, hovering four points off the top two with a game in hand on the Rams.

Despite going down to Abu Kamara’s early strike, Ian Evatt’s side were the superior team in this frenetic battle at the top of the third tier and will hope more spills are to come if they are to avoid the playoffs.

Amid a cacophonous atmosphere – and a season’s best attendance of 25,738 at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, enhanced by 2,600 Portsmouth fans – Pompey scored from the first chance of the game.

Kamara picked up a loose pass, darted inside from the right and arrowed home with his left foot after slicing through the wandering Bolton defence. There was promptly bedlam in the Pompey end, blue fares, bell-ringing and all that. “If you’re top of the league bounce around,” they sang. And they did.

Bolton finally settled after 10 minutes or so, aided by the deft feet of the Brentford loanee Paris Maghoma. It was his slide-rule pass to release Gethin Jones that set up the hosts’ best moment of the opening quarter, Pompey scrambling to block as Aaron Collins was denied on the line.

Bolton bossed possession, but negotiating a resolute Portsmouth defence was not straightforward, with the jet-heeled Kamara the visitors’ principal counterattacking outlet. Backed by the blue wall behind Will Norris’s goal in the first half, they were the proverbial tough nut to crack.

Not that the Trotters weren’t throwing everything at them. Maghoma twice found himself in penalty box acreage but couldn’t apply the finish. Then, with 35 minutes on the clock, they found a deserved leveller. Maghoma was again at the heart of matters, shifting it swiftly left to Nathanael Ogbeta, whose cross was nodded home by Collins.

The striker’s fifth goal in his past three appearances sparked the crowd into life. But Bolton knew they needed more; it wouldn’t be enough to delay Pompey’s promotion party – they needed to start their own. A frenetic period until the break then ensued, with Jón Dadi Bödvarsson going closest to snatching the lead for Bolton, skying his rebound from a Norris fumble.

Such were the stakes, it wasn’t a shock that the second half began with more chances. George Thomason hit one wide for Bolton and was then smothered by Norris after dashing through. Pompey responded with a triple substitution – which included mercurial forward Kusini Yengi – as John Mousinho signalled his intent. There was no holding back from either manager.

Bolton captain, Ricardo Santos, received the same memo, crunching into Yengi with a last-ditch tackle that seemed to jolt the hosts once more; minutes later they carved out a gaping opportunity for Bódvarsson, who steered over from close range.

As news of Derby’s 2-0 lead filtered through, it was Bolton who pushed harder in the latter stages, the home fans encouraged by the introduction of Dion Charles from the bench – and he struck a post with a guided late attempt – and the visitors’ defence dropped deeper.

As the rain lashed down, Bolton’s efforts got ever more desperate but the winner was beyond the indefatigable hosts.

Portsmouth welcome Barnsley and Wigan in the coming week and will hope to toast promotion and the League One title within the home comforts of Fratton Park. With the draw leaving a nine-point gap between the sides, Bolton will rue an opportunity missed.