Meite took advantage of a goalkeeping error from Rabotnicki's Filipe Madzovski to fire home from close range and set up an interesting return leg at the Reebok Stadium in two weeks from now.

Rabotnicki, for their part, gave the Wanderers all sorts of problems throughout the contest and had earlier taken the lead when Nemanja Milisavljevic's excellent strike had beaten Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen on 53 minutes.

Just before half time the Wanderers top goalscorer Nicolas Anelka had a golden opportunity to give the visitors the lead but the French international hit the side netting after rounding the calamatous Madzovski.

From the first whistle the hosts showed their intent when the excellent midfielder Nderim Nedzipi had a half chance which Jaaskelainen had to be alert to.

In the first twenty minutes the match was evenly poised with neither side able to get a foothold on the game but Nedzipi was on the offensive again on 24 minutes when he let fly with a shot from distance which stung the palms of Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal and striker Ivan Trickovski was unable to follow up the rebound.

Diouf then fired over after Nolan's mishit volley had fallen into his path but the miss of the game came from a man who many would expect to have converted.

Some good build up play by Gavin McCann and Diouf put through Anelka and once around Madzovski it seemed a certain goal only for the former Manchester City man to lash the ball wide.

Just after the restart Rabotnicki ventured forward again and Trickovski in possession tried to catch out Jaaskelainen with an early shot which the Finn gathered quite easily.

Moments later Trickovski's pass over the top put in Milisavljevic and he made no mistake with a fine goal which left Jaaskelainen stranded much to the delight of the home support.

Bolton player/coach Gary Speed headed over a Diouf free kick as Sammy Lee's side looked for a quick response but it was clear to see that the Lancashire side once again where suffering as a result of defensive frailties.

Gerald Cid was hauled off to be replaced by Andy O'Brien and Daniel Braaten entered the fray in place of Gavin McCann and the involvement of the Norwegian speedster Braaten soon lifted the Whites.

One introduction of note came as the half wound down when Joey O'Brien came into play in place of Nicky Hunt. O'Brien had been out of action with a career threatening knee injury since July 2006 and this was his first senior appearance since the 2005-2006 campaign.

Meite rescued Bolton with an unlikely goal with less than ten minutes left on the clock and this may have just helped to keep Bolton's European dreams alive.

It's back to league action on Sunday when fellow UEFA Cup hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur visit the Reebok Stadium. Both sides are looking for an upturn in form so it is hoped the Wanderers can win the battle of wills.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt (Joey O'Brien), Abdoulaye Meite, Gerald Cid (Andy O'Brien), Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann (Daniel Braaten), Gary Speed, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS NOT USED: Andranik Teimourian, Danny Guthrie, Mikel Alonso, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

FK RABOTNICKI: Filip Madzovski, Lazar Stansic, Miroslav Vajas, Vasko Bozinovski, Adekunle Lukmon, Ertan Demiri, Nderim Nedzipi, Minas Osmani (Ivan Pejcic), Nikola Gligorov, Ivan Trickovski (Ismet Selim), Nemanja Milisavljevic (Krste Velkovski)

SUBS NOT USED: Emir Sabani, Saso Gjoreski, Idrizi Mensur, Tome Pacovski (GK)

REFEREE:

Zsolt Szabo (Hungary)

ATTENDANCE:

16,000

BOOKED:

Milisavljevic (Rabotnicki)

McCann (Bolton)

Speed (Bolton)

Hunt (Bolton)

Nedzipi (Rabotnicki)

Osmani (Rabotnicki)

Diouf (Bolton)

Vajas (Rabotnicki)

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