A MATCH that took Wanderers and their followers to the depths of despair and the heights of ecstasy and back again, ended 2-2 at Barnsley.

The relegation rivals went their separate ways with a share of the spoils after a stalemate at Oakwell and, though Bolton were just moments away from all three points, they would surely have snapped off someone's hand had a draw been on offer at the interval.

After a bright enough start, Wanderers fell behind midway through the first half, failing to clear a corner and allowing the Tykes' Gary Gardner to slam home the opening goal.

That knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and, although Sammy Ameobi finally forced a smart save from Adam Davies 10 minutes before the break, Barnsley's Oliver McBurnie was even closer to a goal, shooting wide when the Whites again could not get a corner to safety.

After grimly hanging on when the half-time whistle came, Wanderers came out with greater intent and ambition and took the upper hand with two goals in the space of four minutes.

Adam Le Fondre drilled in an 82nd-minute penalty after referee Michael Jones spotted a shirt-pull when a corner was coming in. Made to wait what seemed like an eternity as the protests and recriminations were going on, the striker kept his cool when all around were losing theirs, levelling matters as he sent Davies the wrong way.

And Craig Noone picked a fine time to pounce on a loose ball and fire home his first in a Whites shirt five minutes from time.

It was not to be, though, as McBurnie was somehow left unmarked at a set-piece deep into stoppage time and made the most of the simplest of point-blank opportunities to snatch a point for the third-bottom hosts.

"We said to the lads at half time 'come on, we've got to show the courage to play'," said Wanderers boss Phil Parkinson. "We really took the game to them, we grew in belief and the Barnsley lads were cramping up because we really ran all over them.

"We've just got to keep going. After the defeats we've had recently it was so important we got something today.

"It would have been great to be talking about all three points but it's a point and we've got to make sure it's a point that helps us stay in the division."