WANDERERS surrendered a lead late on to ensure their 16-year wait for a league win over Ipswich Town continued at the Macron.

Gary Madine’s 10th goal of the season had put Phil Parkinson’s side in the driving seat in a game of few clear-cut chances.

Filipe Morais went close to adding a second, squeezing a shot wide from the edge of the box and Madine saw a free kick pushed aside by Bartosz Bialkowski.

But Ipswich pushed to the end and Joe Garner slid home the equaliser with eight minutes to go after some great football between David McGoldrick and Martyn Waghorn on the edge of the box.

Phil Parkinson had to play Dorian Dervite at centre half – the Frenchman’s first league start since August – after Mark Beevers pulled out of the squad on the morning of the game.

And though the match ended on a down-note, with Waghorn striking the outside of the post with what would have been a winning goal in the last minute, the Wanderers boss could draw some positives from the performance.

“When you are ahead in a game and looking as comfortable as we were you can’t help but be disappointed you haven’t won it,” he said.

“We know they have got some talented players – Waghorn, Garner and McGoldrick – and the one moment of real quality around the box has produced their equaliser.

“Our performance levels were good considering we had to play Dorian, who hasn’t played for such a long time. Mark Beevers went down ill but I thought he was excellent.

“Karl Henry had only had two days of training behind him so maybe we did fatigue a bit towards the end and it was a factor which cost us.

“It was a good point for us, though, and important point and it keeps us out of the bottom three.

“It takes us into the next two weeks where we can work and reshape the squad before the big push to the end of the season.”

Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy pulled no punches when he summed up the quality of football on offer at the Macron.

“1-1 is a fair reflection. It’s possibly the worst game I have seen all season though,” he smiled.

“Bolton are no mugs and they didn’t make it easy for us.

“They are a big powerful team. We actually played great football from 1-0 down.

“A football team turned up then and we played well then. But as I said it was probably the worst game, certainly the worst first half I have seen all season; possibly for a long time.

“We had to scrap it out because it was a tough old game. Both teams worked hard to stop each other playing.

“We come up here and people think we are Ipswich Town with Sir Bobby Robson still involved with all his players. People think we are a top top team and we should beat them.

“But that’s not the case. Bolton have a lot of Championship experience in their team and they are on a resurgence. I have never had an easy game here. And at the end of it I will take the point.”