SYLVESTER Stallone has been filming in Bolton this week – perhaps he should stick around for the replay and pick up a few pointers?

Rocky Balboa himself would have been proud to absorb Liverpool’s punishing blows at Anfield, yet still come out swinging punches the way that Wanderers did on Saturday night.

And just like his epic cinema battles with Apollo Creed, there might just be a happy ending to the story for this set of underdogs.

On a weekend of cup shocks it didn’t quite measure on the Richter Scale like Bradford City, Cambridge United or Middlesbrough but to folk in these parts who have been desperate for a night like this, this feeling was priceless.

Four short months ago we had fan protests, a bitter divide between the club and the terraces and a fragmented team who were low on confidence and heading for League One.

How times change. Liverpool will come to the Macron next week with a Capital One Cup semi-final against Chelsea in their legs, and perhaps even a thorough going over from Sam Allardyce’s West Ham. Will they fancy it? Will they ‘eck.

It is hard to imagine Brendan Rodgers’ side can be this wasteful with the ball again for 90 minutes, and truth be told the Reds had a few good chances to win it.

Wanderers rode their luck at times and definitely got a helping hand from referee Kevin Friend as two second-half penalty appeals against Matt Mills and Jay Spearing were waved away.

But just like Rocky, the Whites’ resolve to keep on slugging meant they deserved their bit of good fortune and with the likes of Zach Clough and Craig Davies back on board for the replay, this script has a few more twists and turns yet.

It seems churlish to pick out individuals on a night where team effort ruled, but Adam Bogdan’s belligerence in goal was breathtaking at times.

While most of Liverpool’s first-half efforts were from distance and easily dealt with, they gradually pushed closer to the Wanderers goal before ending up camped in the penalty box.

At that point the Hungary international’s class kicked in. His one-handed save from Fabio Borini in the second half was the highlight of a master-class of goalkeeping under pressure and his handling was as secure as anything seen in front of the Kop this season.

Where this puts Bogdan is another matter. Few could suggest Andy Lonergan deserves to left out of the side but at some point, one out-of-contract keeper is going to be left disappointed.

Lennon plans another round of talks with his keepers’ representatives this week but he could have wished for no better shop window than this one if Bogdan is to leave in this transfer window.

The keeper wasn’t alone in keeping Liverpool at bay. Tim Ream has never looked better – reading the game immaculately as Joe Allen and Phillipe Coutinho continually tried to slip passes in around him.

Likewise Dorian Dervite, who has become Bolton’s Mr Consistent this season and who seems even more at ease in a back three, produced a near-faultless display on the right side of the defensive trio.

Toxteth-born midfielder Neil Danns played the second half with stomach cramp but still managed to fill in at right-back, centre-half and play the holding role while Josh Vela – a target of Liverpool before he even got on the first team scene with Bolton – revelled in the spotlight and will have caught the eye with his composure in the middle of the park.

Lennon had stuck with a back three but brought Dean Moxey in for his first start since October 21 as a left-sided wing-back. The former Palace man’s inclusion raised a few eyebrows pre-match but it allowed Ream to play his favoured centre-half role, adding an extra touch of pace to the defensive triumvirate.

In an attacking sense Wanderers looked a little disjointed in the first half, rarely stringing half a dozen passes together in the Liverpool half.

That did not stop them having the best opportunity of the first 45 minutes as Moxey’s rocket of a left-footed shot arched narrowly wide of Simon Mignolet’s right-hand post.

Things improved after half time as Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey started to find each other more often.

Had Gudjohnsen been at his clinical best then the game could have been won – the Icelander snatching at a couple of chances.

As the game wore on Liverpool pushed the Whites further back, the defending become more and more frantic with each passing minute.

Kevin Friend has never seemed more aptly named as he rejected a penalty claim against Mills for a trip on Lazar Markovic. Already on a caution, the centre-half would have surely walked had a foul been given.

Never before has the digital clock on the corner of the Kop ticked so slowly as it did in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Lennon had already had to withdraw Emile Heskey, who had run his race, for youngster Conor Wilkinson. But when Moxey went down with cramp and Mills caught a Coutinho shot in the unmentionables, he was forced to get creative.

Jay Spearing helped steady the nerves on his return to Anfield – although he too had to survive a late penalty shout – and David Wheater headed anything that moved in the final few minutes.

When Borini headed wide in the final few minutes you sensed Liverpool had thrown their best at Wanderers and were not going to break through.

It was a bit like the scene in Rocky IV when a shattered Ivan Drago, sitting hunched on his stool and telling his Russian trainer of Balboa: “He’s not human, he’s like a piece of iron.”

When the final whistle sounded, Wanderers’ players walked over to the Anfield Road end to receive their deserved adulation, just as Bruce Rioch’s men had done in 1993.

Bruised, battered, and out on their feet – but this team deserve a sequel.