Michael Owen

London: Michael Owen scored the 200th goal of his club career to rescue Manchester United from defeat against Bolton Wanderers on Sunday. Owen, a 70th minute replacement for Darren Fletcher, scored with a clinical header after Martin Petrov’s strike had appeared to set Bolton on course for victory.

Despite maintaining their unbeaten start to the season, United struggled to impress in the 2-2 draw and Wayne Rooney endured another miserable afternoon before being substituted on the 61st minute.

United had been given a tremendous incentive to claim all three points at the Reebok with title rivals Chelsea and Arsenal both losing 24 hours earlier.

But if Alex Ferguson’s players arrived at the Reebok expecting victory to be a formality, they would have been shaken out of their complacency by Zat Knight’s sixth minute opener.

Not only did the goal give Bolton the lead, it once again highlighted United’s current defensive frailties.

In other matches, Aston Villa moved into fifth spot when Emile Heskey’s late header earned them a 2-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gerard Houllier’s first league match in charge of the midlands club, while Stoke City won 2-1 at Newcastle United to move out of the bottom three after trailing at halftime.