Trailing at the break to Jack Marriott’s powerful blast, Steven Schumacher’s side spent virtually the whole second period camped in Royals territory.
They had missed several presentable opportunities in the first 45 minutes but struggled to carve out anything meaningful until stoppage time when Mason Burstow pounced from close range to equalise deep into stoppage time.
Victories for Lincoln and Cardiff elsewhere put a different spin on the result, however, and while this said a lot about the fight and spirit at Bolton, it also highlighted some of their downfalls.
Wanderers made four changes to the side that had draw against Lincoln, with Johnny Kenny coming in for his full debut in place of John McAtee in attack.
Max Conway returned from a knee injury to start of the left side of defence, with George Johnston nudged infield alongside Chris Forino, with Eoin Toal rested.
Josh Sheehan replaced Kyle Dempsey in midfield and on the left, Ibrahim Cissoko stepped in for Corey Taylor-Blackett, who was dropped to the bench.
Within a few seconds of the start, Sam Dalby collected the ball 30 yards from goal and managed to squeeze a pass through for Kenny but the Celtic man was denied a perfect start as his shot was blocked by Joel Pereira.
Kenny then turned provider a few moments later, attacking down the left to drive in a low cross that was clean missed by Rob Apter.
Two decent chances spurned, Bolton were nearly made to pay dearly as Lewis Wing’s wild clearance almost looped over Jack Bonham, forcing the keeper into a desperate fingertip save.
With Kenny and Dalby effectively making it a 4-4-2 for Wanderers, there was a touch more vulnerability on the break when possession was given away cheaply, it did lead for some nervy moments.
Liam Fraser hammered one effort just over the bar after some good work from Jack Marriott and Kamari Doyle also went close, threatening to wake a very quiet and threadbare home support from their evening slumber.
After George Johnston headed wide from a Sheehan free-kick, Bolton’s early fizz started to fade and Reading started to break with more purpose. They took the lead on 36 minutes through League One’s top scorer Marriott, a cracking right-footed effort which looped over the stranded Bonham, but a move that highlighted just how open the Whites had left themselves.
Marriott nearly helped himself to a second before half time when Cissoko lost possession and Ryan Nyambe – who had been struggling to contain the winger for most of the half – raided forward. Thankfully on this occasion the end result nestled into the side netting.
There were a few more flutters from Wanderers as Apter curled a tame shot wide from the edge of the area and Kenny flicked a header towards goal that had Pereira worried on the stroke of half time. But the worry for Schumacher at the interval was not necessarily that his side would create more chances – that did seem likely – but more that Reading looked capable of adding a second and taking the game away completely.
Bolton certainly emerged with purpose for the second half, beating the Royals out on to the pitch by several minutes. And their eagerness to get back on level terms was evident as they pinned the home side back in their half for the first 10 minutes.
Other than Cissoko’s volley over the top there was little end product to match the pressure, or the possession stats. Knowing the results elsewhere, Bolton tried to keep the tempo high but were then stymied by a lengthy stoppage for a facial injury to Paudie O’Connor sustained in a challenge with Kenny.
With 20 minutes to go Schumacher brought on Ruben Rodrigues and Blackett-Taylor to further ramp-up the attacking look of his midfield. And it wasn’t long before the latter was in the thick of the action, prodding a shot wide after Apter had found him unmarked at the far post.
John McAtee and Mason Burstow were then introduced in the hope of finding something in the final stages of the game but, in truth, the Whites were starting to look desperate, and the quality had dropped out of their game.
One late cross from Blackett-Taylor bounced around dangerously inside the six yard box without subs Cyrus Christie or Burstow able to get a proper connection.
When nine minutes of stoppage time went up there was a flutter of hope from the away support, which increased in volume when Christie was able to load the box for a free kick.
And when the Irishman played the ball in, the resulting scramble ended with Burstow poking the ball over the line from close range.
There was still time left to perform a Huddersfield-esque miracle but on this occasion the Whites could not find a second moment of magic.