Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Barnsley: League One play-off semi-final in balance after draw in first leg

Dion Charles' goal for Bolton was his 23rd of the season - including two for Northern Ireland

Bolton and Barnsley remain locked together in the battle for a trip to Wembley following a draw in the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final.

After a goalless first half at the University of Bolton Stadium, the visitors took the lead when Devante Cole laid the ball back and wing-back Nicky Cadden fired it low into the corner.

Wanderers had failed to produce an effort on target before the break but were soon back on level terms as keeper Harry Isted failed to deal adequately with Randell Williams' cross and the ball rebounded off Dion Charles and into the net.

Bolton pushed forward with intent in search of a winner but Mads Andersen's last-ditch tackle foiled substitute Daniel Nlundulu as he prepared to shoot and Barnsley held out to the final whistle.

The return leg at Oakwell will take place on Friday evening, with the winners to take on either Peterborough or Sheffield Wednesday - with Posh 4-0 ahead following their first leg - for a place in the Championship next season.

Bolton are in their first play-off campaign for 22 years and seeking to emulate Barnsley's 2016 feat of winning the EFL Trophy and promotion from League One in the same season.

They went into the game having taken four points from the two regular-season meetings of the two sides, and Ian Evatt restored top scorer Charles to the starting line-up as one of six changes.

Barnsley had Danish centre-back Andersen back in their team after missing the past two games through injury but they were fortunate to escape conceding in the opening minute as Aaron Morley's free-kick deflected off both George Johnston and Charles before rolling wide.

Charles should have done better when he fired a first time shot over the bar from Elias Kachunga's ball into the box before Barnsley - with only one win in their previous five games - responded with a ferocious 25-yarder by Luca Connell that keeper James Trafford was happy just to beat away.

Adam Phillips flashed another effort from distance over the bar for Michael Duff's team before a loose ball fell to striker Slobodan Tedic in the area, only for Trafford to hustle from his line to block.

On Eurovision Song Contest day, there was plenty of ding-a-dong in the first half as both sides continued to fly into tackles but they lacked the creativity to seriously threaten an opening goal, with Cole hooking wide after holding off Bolton skipper Ricardo Santos.

Nicky Cadden celebrates after putting Barnsley in front at the University of Bolton Stadium

Isted needed treatment for an ankle problem at the start of the second half, having landed heavily while trying to claim a cross before the break, and was relieved to see a curling free-kick by Morley drift beyond the far post.

The visitors won at Bolton in the FA Cup earlier in the season but had not beaten them in a league game since both were in the top flight of English football in 1997-98.

They went ahead, though, when Cadden - a member of Forest Green Rovers' League Two promotion team in 2022 - scored his sixth of the season, only to fail to keep the door shut at the other end as Charles quickly levelled.

Bobby Thomas had a shot charged down by Trafford and then headed over from Phillips' cross but the best opportunity for a winner fell to Nlundulu as Conor Bradley steered the ball into his path, with Andersen timing his sliding intervention to perfection.

Barnsley secured promotion to the Championship via the play-offs in 2006, as well as a decade later, but Bolton won 3-0 in south Yorkshire in January and still have an even chance of a place in the final.

Bolton manager Ian Evatt told BBC Radio Manchester:

"They will feel like they're in a really strong position, but I think we're in a really strong position.

"The game will be slightly different on Friday, there'll be more onus on them, being the home team, more pressure, and I think we're dangerous when the spaces become a little bit bigger.

"We need to be a little more brave first half - Barnsley are a really organised team, really good out of possession, the way they nick yards from a negative or neutral pass is first class.

"They leave a lot of space behind and we were playing too long, too often, rather than [trying to] pick our way though and then create the space. We didn't do that well enough."

Barnsley boss Michael Duff told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"I thought the performance was really good, disciplined, structured, but there's a tinge of disappointment that we haven't come away having won the game.

"The tie is still alive and we'll get back to Oakwell and hopefully deliver a similar level of performance and the crowd will get us through.

"Not many teams would have come here and had as many shots as we had. The keeper has kept them in the game at times.

"They're a good team with good technical players - they rotate really well but we mid-blocked it a little more and picked them off in good areas because we condensed the spaces they wanted to play in."