Bolton 0 : Fulham 0

No dream start for Mark Hughes and no opening-day magic at the Reebok Stadium with Bolton and Fulham serving up a turgid goalless draw.

Despite the presence of the excellent Bobby Zamora, who made his England debut in midweek, Hughes' new side was unable to breach Bolton's rock-solid defence.

The home side's debutant Martin Petrov looked lively throughout and was an occasional threat to Fulham's goalkeeper David Stockdale, who played ahead of Mark Schwarzer who handed in a transfer request earlier in the week.

Stockdale was beaten in the 78th minute but Stuart Holden's rasping drive crashed back off the right-hand post.

That effort aside, the Trotters' faithful had little to cheer going forward. And it was a similar story for Fulham, although Zamora did have a few glimpses of goal.

In the 21st minute, the striker's superb attempted chip from 30 yards dropped just the wrong side of Jussi Jaaskelainen's crossbar. But, with little service throughout, the striker cut a frustrated figure upfront.

Hughes brought on playmaker Clint Dempsey with 15 minutes remaining and his introduction brought fresh invention to Fulham's attack.

Within five minutes of coming on, he almost released Damien Duff and then tested Jaaskelainen with a firmly-struck effort.

Zamora then raced onto a superb through-ball from Dempsey but again Jaaskelainen was on hand to thwart Fulham.

With a minute remaining the England striker almost got his reward for a tireless performance. But Paul Robinson produced a perfectly-timed tackle to keep Zamora at bay and cap a good afternoon for the defenders.