John Byrom’s brilliant equaliser ten minutes from time earned Bolton Wanderers a share of the spoils against FA Cup finalists Fulham at Burnden Park this afternoon.
The former Blackburn Rovers forward made two mistakes that gave Alec Stock’s side a 2-1 lead but made amends with a superb leveller late on and Wanderers could easily have gone on to pinch all three points in a frantic finale.
The home side took the lead in the eighteenth minute when Hugh Curran outjumped Byrom to power home a fine cross from Garry Jones. But Bolton were pegged back within four minutes taking the lead when Jimmy Conway capitalised on an error from Byrom to saunter along the left wing and cut the ball back for Vic Busby to level the scores from close range.
The bruised Byrom then made matters worse by inexplicably dwelling on the ball just outside his own penalty area, allowing Fulham’s semi-final hero John Mitchell to put the visitors ahead. But Byrom, to his great credit, kept plugging away and scored a sensational goal to bring his side level. He latched onto Paul Jones’ chip and smashed a shot into the roof of the net – leaving poor Peter Mellor rooted to the spot.
BOLTON WANDERERS: Siddall; Ritson, Dunne, Greaves, Jones, P. Allardyce, Byrom, Curran, Jones, G. Reid, Thompson.
GOALS: Curran (18), Byrom (80)
FULHAM: Mellor; Strong, Cutbush, Moore, Howe, Conway, Dowie, Mullery, Slough, Busby, Mitchell. Subs (not used): Lloyd.
GOALS: Busby (22), Mitchell (27)
ATTENDANCE: 8,786.
