PARIS (AFP) — 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.
"I am quite disappointed with the result," said Hitzfeld, whose side top the group with four points, while Bolton have picked up two points after their second draw.
With new coach Gary Megson at the helm, Bolton may be just one place off the bottom of the Premier League, but they took a shock lead after eight minutes as Gardener capitalised on poor Bayern defending.
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.
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 care-free, 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 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.
Nuremberg coach Hans Meyer said "This defeat was completely home-made.
"I must hold myself responsible, I had our slowest defender Glauber up against their fastest attacker Anichebe.
"I want to only sleep and speak with the team tomorrow.
"We played well before the penalty, but what is the point of talking about 80 minutes of football when we made two crucial mistakes and threw the good work away?"
Nuremberg have won just one of the last 13 Budesliga matches and this was their opening UEFA Cup game of the campaign.
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