Megson: Euro adventure not over yet March 06 2008
Bolton manager Gary Megson insists his Premier League strugglers can write another fairytale chapter into their UEFA Cup story when they travel to Sporting Lisbon next Thursday.
Sporting have the edge after Thursday night's 1-1 draw at the Reebok Stadium, but Megson warned it would be dangerous to write off his men given what they have already achieved in European combat this term.
The Trotters are now unbeaten in nine games in this season's competition, a remarkable record which includes wins over Atletico Madrid and Red Star Belgrade, and a draw in Munich against Bayern.
They were on course for another famous success when midfielder Gavin McCann scored his second UEFA Cup goal this season in the 25th minute.
But the Portuguese giants hit back in style when Simon Vukcevic struck a brilliant equaliser with 21 minutes remaining to leave Wanderers clear underdogs.
"Most of the teams that we have played this season have regarded us as underdogs and indeed, in the Premiership, most of the time we are seen as the underdogs," said Megson.
"But we went to Bayern Munich with 10 enforced changes and got a decent result, we went to Belgrade and made the changes by choice and won 1-0. I then made 10 changes when we came back and won a game in the league that weekend.
"We've at times played people from the squad who have come in and done very well and we'll be doing the same again."
Megson has stressed all along that domestic survival is far more important than a prolonged run in the UEFA Cup.
Thus he sees the trip to local rivals and fellow strugglers Wigan on Sunday week - three days after the second leg in Lisbon - as more important than continued interest in European competition.
He said: "The result here is going to make absolutely no difference to the team that will be going out at Lisbon.
"Whatever we did tonight, we have one eye on the Wigan game on the Sunday."
McCann registered his second European goal for Bolton with a sweet right-foot finish from 14 yards in the 25th minute.
However, a second-half booking means he will miss next Thursday's second leg and the visitors improved markedly after the restart.
They were forced to ride their luck at times but there was no doubting the quality of Vukcevic's equaliser as the Montenegro international rifled home left-footed from 18 yards in the 69th minute.
Megson - who revealed Jussi Jaaskelainen pulled out a game shortly before the kick-off due to a lower back injury - added: "Gavin scored in Belgrade and scored again tonight and did well, and I don't think there has been any player who has come in and let us down."
Sporting coach Paulo Bento had criticised the home side's long-ball approach beforehand and was equally scathing of their tactics after the game.
Bento said: "In the first half we didn't play very well but in the second half we were able to react well to get a result.
"We had a lot more possession and played from the back to the front. They played a lot of long balls as we knew they would but credit to them, they made it difficult for us."