JOEY Barton wasted a glorious chance to secure Manchester City's fourth straight win as a dismal Lancashire derby ended in stalemate at the Reebok Stadium.

Midfielder Barton summed up an uninspiring afternoon when he somehow contrived to poke his 69th-minute chance into the side-netting from point-blank range.

It was one of few chances in a game played out amid of a surreally flat atmosphere, with City left to feel marginally the better at getting another good away point on the board.

Bolton huffed and puffed to little effect with City keeper Nicky Weaver relegated to the role of virtual spectator for much of a game which will soon be scrubbed from the collective memory.

The home side had showed good early intention with defender Nicky Hunt drilling the first shot just wide of target with less than half a minute on the cross.

And City had their own early chance through the recalled Italian Bernardo Corradi, who headed high over the bar from Barton's fine cross.

Floundered

But early momentum floundered into a dull midfield stalemate with an eerily uninspired crowd watching both sides failing to create any real chances of note.

City defender Micah Richards coped comfortably with everything Nicolas Anelka could throw at him, while at the other end Darius Vassell just failed to get his toe on the end of a Barton cross.

Anelka's strike partner El-Hadji Diouf was at least trying his best to enliven a drab affair with his drag-backs and back-heels on the wing, but most of his attractive work came to nothing.

Soon resorting to speculative efforts to end the tedium, Ivan Campo fired a long-range effort well wide of the target and Tal Ben Haim's even longer free-kick only caused a problem when Nicky Weaver slipped.

Ricardo Gardner clattered a shot into Ousmane Dabo in the box while Diouf created a fine 32nd minute chance for Gary Speed, who was denied a clear header by another good interception from Richards.

Kevin Davies' stumble in the centre circle could have cost the home side dear in the 35th minute with Ireland freeing Corradi on the right, but the Italian ended his run by blazing high and wide of target.

Corradi had been favoured ahead of Georgios Samaras despite the Greek international hitting three goals in the last two games, and boss Stuart Pearce may have regretted his decision in the 35th minute.

Wasted

The Italian wasted the best chance of the match so far when Trevor Sinclair crossed from the right and the striker's half-volley from eight yards flashed just over the bar.

With the match belatedly springing into life, Ben Haim's long free-kick into the City box found Davies unmarked at the far post but the big striker headed just wide of target.

Diouf continued to look the most likely player to inspire the deadlock to be broken, with his cross early in the second half just failing to find Davies at the far post.

Bolton were well on top without managing to trouble City keeper Weaver, with Idan Tal miscuing from long-range and Campo knocking a header straight into defender Richard Dunne.

Anelka came close to putting the home side ahead in the 67th minute when he was fed the ball on the left side of the box by Speed, but he drilled a low shot straight at Weaver.

Then came City's big chance after Vassell had cut in behind the Trotters' defence on the left and cut the ball back across the face of goal.

First Corradi failed to get the final touch before the ball squirted across to Barton, who, with keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen well beaten, somehow managed to poke the ball into the side-netting.

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