Bolton escaped White Hart Lane with a 1-1 draw after Tottenham wasted glorious opportunities to win.
Megson's men lucky to claim point after Spurs domination
Bolton escaped White Hart Lane with a point after Tottenham wasted a series of glorious opportunities to win the game.
The visitors took the lead through substitute Stelios Giannakopoulos just after the restart, but Steed Malbranque hit back just minutes later to bring Spurs level.
Tottenham had enjoyed almost complete domination of the first 45 minutes, but rarely produced anything likely to trouble Ali Al Habsi in the Bolton goal.
But they came very, very close to opening the scoring on the stroke of half-time when a free-kick just outside the area was deflected onto his own post by Bolton full-back Gretar Steinsson.
And their failure to take advantage was swiftly punished in the second half, as half-time substitute Giannakopoulos steered the ball home after seconds of the restart.
A woeful pass from Michael Dawson allowed Bolton to attack and, as they forced a goalmouth scramble, the Greece international gave his team the lead with his first touch of the ball.
Yet just five minutes later the score was level, as Malbranque tapped it beyond Al Habsi when Robbie Keane's shot deflected into his path.
And Tottenham and Dimitar Berbatov in particular then missed some gilt-edged chances to take all three points and leave struggling Bolton empty-handed.
New boy watching
Watching in the stands was a new Spurs signing, Luka Modric, who has agreed a £15.8million move from Dinamo Zagreb.
As usual, Berbatov and Robbie Keane were at the heart of Spurs' attacks. Keane had the first effort on goal, toe-poking straight at Al Habsi after latching onto a Berbatov flick.
Spurs made most of the running but they too found chances difficult to create. The clearest opportunity in the first half came seconds before the break when Keane had a close-range effort bundled wide by Ivan Campo.
Megson's first change was forced, in the 20th minute, when Joey O'Brien picked up a knock, with Danny Guthrie coming on.
But it was his double substitution at half-time that got the game going, with the visitors rewarded within 30 seconds of the restart.
Spurs failed to clear and El-Hadji Diouf, who was on for Grzegorz Rasiak, laid the ball back to Steinsson on the right flank.
Dawson and goalkeeper Radek Cerny clashed together in the six-yard box and Stelios, on at the break for Campo, prodded home.
Al Habsi stays strong
Tottenham's reply came in the 52nd minute, with Keane slipping the ball to the back post and Malbranque clipping his finish past Al Habsi.
Spurs should have taken the lead when Keane was on the end of a flowing move, but Al Habsi was out to block bravely.
Malbranque was found in a similar position to his goal, arguably for an easier chance, but was wide with his volley.
Al Habsi was called into action again in the 66th minute when Berbatov drilled towards the bottom corner, with the Bolton goalkeeper down sharply.
The Bolton shot-stopper did not have to work as hard when Bent was sent through and lobbed tamely into his hands.
Bent also had a header cleared off the line by Guthrie in stoppage time, while Berbatov headed over when found unmarked.