However, in the end, given what unfolded, I think that it has to be considered a disappointing result overall and elements of Blues' performance have to be questioned.
Alex McLeish brought Lee Bowyer in for Nikola Zigic in the only change from the last league game, meaning Blues played 4-5-1 with Craig Gardner supporting Cameron Jerome from midfield. The team selection was fair enough, I felt.
Blues started brightly and were up and at it from the start, pressuring Bolton, snapping into tackles and pinning them back. Within five minutes Blues were ahead following a fine goal. From a set piece the ball came back to Stephen Carr, and as he did for Gardner's first against Blackburn, Carr picked out a great ball from deep to James McFadden. Bowyer's run was found by McFadden and when Bowyer crossed, a flick at the near post took it in to Roger Johnson's path where he prodded home from close range. Good goal.
Bolton raised their game slightly and things were fairly even for a spell. Johan Elmander and Kevin Davies were both causing the Blues defence problems, whilst at the other end McFadden hit a volley a little too well and straight at Jussi Jaaskelainen following fine work from Gardner.
Matters further improved for Blues when Jaaskelainen was sent off for bizarrely hitting out at Johnson. The centre half challenged him for the ball, caught the 'keeper slightly, then picked him up and apologised only for Jaaskelainen to lash out at him. Referee Kevin Friend didn't really have an option but to send him off. I was unclear as to whether a penalty should have been awarded too as I hadn't seen the referee blow for a foul by Johnson, but he must have done given that he gave a free-kick to Bolton.
The game was beginning to look like it might boil over and with both Johnson and Bowyer booked and the home fans incensed by the refereeing you sensed Blues needed to just see it out until half-time, calm themselves down and get into the dressing room just to regroup. They did so. It was one of those refereeing displays though where you just knew he'd look to even matters up and Blues, you sensed, had to be wary of that. Friend failed to control the game very well throughout - he wasn't great for either team.
Blues, with a man advantage, had to look to capitalise. Not long into the second half, they did. Blues spread the play well out to the left where McFadden clipped a ball to the far post. Jerome nodded it back across goal where Gardner need only to sweep the ball home to cap a beautiful goal. Gardner, however, opted for a scruffy route. A goal is a goal though, but it really was a scruffy end to a fine move.
That, really and truly, should have been it. It wasn't though, and for that Blues do have to take some responsibility. At 2-0 up against ten men, I'm sorry, but you have to expect a team at this sort of level to see that out - unless you're playing one of the top few clubs. That Blues didn't was hugely disappointing. Blues have this knack of coming up with the goods when their backs are against the wall, when they're unfancied, when there's no pressure on them. However, it seemed that all of a sudden they couldn't cope with being 2-0 up and having a spare man. Shouldn't you revel in that? They seemed to panic.
They started surrendering possession, losing shape and dropping deep. 2-0 up with a spare man and you should really be looking to make it 3-0 to put the game out of sight. It was almost like Blues didn't know what to do when the onus was suddenly on them to be open, creative and attacking. They'd already scored two fine goals, but all that seemed to stop. All of a sudden, when everyone was looking at Blues to really step up and ram home their advantage, they crumbled and gave Bolton a sniff of the game. If you give any decent side such a sniff, they'll take the opportunity presented, and so they did.
As I've said above, the inexperienced Friend was always going to look to try and even things up, and in such circumstances the last thing that you wanted was Roger Johnson clambering on the back of Kevin Davies in the penalty area. Sure enough a penalty was given, Davies scored and Blues had let Bolton back into the game.
Davies was immense, as he so often is, in complete contrast to the desperately disappointing Cameron Jerome at the other end. Part of Blues' problem throughout the second half was Jerome (and at times in the first half). He simply wasn't at it. He failed to retain possession on pretty much every occasion the ball came up to him and, as a lone striker, that's unacceptable. People may say that that's not his kind of game, and they're right. You still expect something from him in that regard though - you expect him to be able to retain possession a little.
Even more frustrating was his total lack of movement. At 2-0 up and against ten men, Blues were faced with a defence pushing up and leaving so much space in the channels and in behind. There were so many occasions when a Blues player collected the ball, looked up to expect to see Jerome spinning behind his man and running into space, but actually saw him rooted to the spot, about a foot in front of either Zat Knight or Gary Cahill, doing nothing. All that was left was for a ball into his feet. See the above paragraph. He offered no outlet to those behind him. Given his pace, if he'd just applied a little thought he'd have known how much he could hurt Bolton spinning in behind but he offered his teammates nothing.
I know I've said it many times, but Jerome has so many attributes to be better than he is, but on days like today is utterly, utterly frustrating. As we've seen so many times before with other opponents, he was more interested in having a chat with Zat Knight (and hugging him within two seconds of the final whistle) that elbowing him, pushing him or kicking him.
At the other end you've got Kevin Davies giving Johnson and Scott Dann as hard a game as they'll have all season. Johnson simply couldn't cope on occasions. It was a master class of centre forward play from Davies. Of course, the way he plays he's going to get penalised a lot himself. I think that pretty much every season over the past four or five years he's committed more fouls than anyone else in the league. Today he was booked for persistent fouling.
What it means though, when he's constantly up for the battle and up for taking on defenders, is that he'll win free-kicks and penalties too, and again, he did. He's a real, real handful and Blues couldn't cope. They didn't help themselves with how they stopped playing, started conceding possession and dropping deep, but once they did, Davies grew into the game and began to bully Blues.
I'm not for one second suggesting that Jerome needs to play like Kevin Davies. He can't. He's not that type of player. However, he could perhaps watch someone like Davies and maybe some old Alan Shearer videos and see how centre forwards put themselves about. He was embarrassing at times today. You don't see Davies constantly having a chat with the centre half, high fiving him if he makes a decent tackle and wanting a hug at the end. By the end of the game all Blues fans there were getting fed up with Jerome - you could hear it. He was desperately poor. He often is though. He's often very good too, but he needs to be more consistent and he needs a rocket up his backside sometimes. What Blues need from him isn't anything difficult - it's just for him to be a bit more aggressive, to use his attributes a little more and to try and think about the game a little. Had he done so today, Blues would have stood a far better chance of winning.
Anyway, sure enough from one of the many free-kicks Bolton began winning around the area as Blues panicked, they made it 2-2. Ben Foster looked a little at fault to me. Robbie Blake's shot wasn't right in the corner and Foster had set his wall up to cover the other side. Blake shot at Foster's side and he didn't seem to have it properly covered.
Late on Davies missed a good chance after Keith Fahey inexplicably put Blues in trouble and then at the other end Jerome was denied by Ron Weasley in the Bolton goal when one-on-one. It summed up Jerome's afternoon. Actually, in stoppage time as Blues looked for a winner they started to spread Bolton a little again and create opportunities. The ten men were pegged back. It's a pity Blues hadn't done it half an hour earlier.
I know that people will say that a draw at Bolton is a decent result, and they're right. I said it in the first paragraph. However, sometimes the way things pan out change that. Is a draw at Bolton in normal circumstances a good result? Yes. Is a draw at Bolton a good result when you're 2-0 up with twenty minutes to go with a man advantage? No. It's not, I'm afraid. This is two points dropped and Blues only have themselves to blame for not killing the game off and for not taking advantage sufficiently.
Last week I said that the results from Sunderland away and Blackburn at home were both good ones. This one was too. Blues don't have a great record at Bolton and they'd started the season well. This is a good result when you look at it on paper and Blues have made a fine start to the season. It is very positive. It should be even better though. Blues should be sat there with seven points out of nine, level with Arsenal and Manchester United in the league. That would have been a stunning start to the season, and it should have happened. It's a shame that it hasn't, but it's not the end of the world.
As I say, no one can deny that this ended up a disappointing result in the circumstances. Blues scored two lovely goals and Gardner again looked a real threat, but excuse me if this comes across as a bit negative in the circumstances. It was a disappointment.
With the international break now and the transfer window (thankfully) closing before the Liverpool game in two weeks time, Blues can reflect on a fine start to the season (results-wise) and begin to settle down into the season. The performances have, in fairness, been a little patchy but there are plenty of positives. Craig Gardner is one, as are Scott Dann and Matt Derbyshire. Some of the football is another (the two goals today were excellent) and the attitude shown against Sunderland and Blackburn is yet another - it's just a pity Bolton did the same to Blues today.
A very good start that could have been a fantastic one.