Villa forced to settle for point

Gerard Houllier witnessed at first hand Aston Villa's strengths and weaknesses after they failed to provide caretaker-manager Kevin MacDonald with the perfect send-off.

New Villa boss Houllier, with assistant Gary McAllister joining him in the directors' box after the Scot was confirmed in the role just before kick-off, will believe he has plenty of talent to work with but will be concerned that it only shows itself in patches.

With MacDonald taking charge of his final game, Ashley Young scored in his fifth successive match against Bolton to give Villa an early lead, only for captain Kevin Davies to net a deserved equaliser for the visitors.

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