Bolt for Bayern

The German giants are held at home by Bolton on what was a great night for English clubs

PARIS: Hot UEFA Cup favourites Bayern Munich were held 2-2 at home by Bolton on Thursday on a great night for English clubs abroad. Everton and Tottenham had 2-0 away victories against Nuremberg and Hapoel Tel Aviv respectively to keep up their hopes of qualifying for the knockout phase.

Goals either side of half-time by Bayern Munich’s forgotten hero Lukas Podolski was not enough as Bolton fought back. Podolski, 22, was given a rare chance to impress Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld after an injury-hit 12 months and the youngster seized his chance with both hands with an equaliser in Munich before putting his side ahead. But their Group F rivals Bolton had come to the Allianz Arena to get a result and after Ricardo Gardener gave them an early lead, Kevin Davies scored a late equaliser as both sides claimed a point.

Bolton manager Gary Megson was delighted by his side’s performance, saying: “It was very encouraging — but then I’ve been hugely encouraged since day one, with the application. You’ve seen it tonight — they’ve stuck at it. We got away with it once or twice, but it was good. We keep drawing games. We had 12 players missing tonight against a club of this stature, and it was terrific.”

As expected, Megson’s opposite number at Bayern was less than happy. “I am quite disappointed with the result,” Hitzfeld said. “The team didn’t play well, we took control of the game, but we were still too carefree, which really frustrated me. But we have four points now and I don’t think we will have a problem to qualify.”

Tottenham won 2-0 at Hapoel Tel Aviv in a defensive display which impressed Spurs skipper Robbie Keane. Both clubs have been having difficulty in their own national leagues and were hoping to divert themselves from that with a good result on the European stage. Keane scored the first goal at the Bloomfield Stadium with Dimitar Berbatov, who insisted earlier on Thursday he was happy at the London club, heading home a second.

The 26-year-old Berbatov admitted the reports linking him with a move had affected his performances but he showed glimpses of last season’s form as Spurs got back on track in Group G after losing to Getafe. The hosts had Gal Shish dismissed in the second half, with the empty seats reflecting a lack of confidence and the fact the city derby against Maccabi on Sunday is considered a more important match. Spurs manager Juande Ramos has won the UEFA Cup in the last two seasons with Sevilla but will surely face sterner tests if he is going to make it a hat-trick.

Keane said afterwards: “We had a few good chances and we finished the job off in the first half. We are very pleased with the win but the most important thing was the the clean sheet. We needed to get a good win but we’ve been conceding goals of late so that was the most important factor.”

Everton’s teenage super sub Victor Anichebe came off the bench to win a penalty and score his side’s second goal in their 2-0 win. The 19-year-old Nigerian striker was introduced with 15 minutes left and caused havoc in the Nuremberg defence to win a late penalty which Spaniard Mikel Arteta converted to put Everton ahead on 83 minutes.

And with two minutes remaining he rounded the Nuremberg defence and smashed his shot past the stranded goalkeeper to score his second UEFA Cup goal after he netted Everton’s third in their 3-1 win over Greek side Larissa last month. This is the Toffeemen’s second consecutive UEFA Cup win to top Group A with six points and puts them in pole-position to qualify.