Bolton Wanderers vs Brentford: Danns raises a smile as Bees land Dean Smith

Bolton Wanderers 1 Brentford 1

John Swift, on loan from Chelsea, puts Brentford ahead (Reuters)

Neil Danns lifted some of the gloom surrounding Bolton Wanderers on Monday night with a second-half equaliser against Brentford, who earlier named Dean Smith as their new manager.

With Smith watching in the stands after deciding to leave League One Walsall, the visitors took an early lead through John Swift, the on-loan midfielder from Chelsea, who fired home a superb, curling shot from 20 yards after good link-up play with Alan Judge.

However, the Bees could not turn their superiority into a two-goal lead and when a poor defensive header fell to Danns on the edge of the penalty area in the 65th minute his bouncing shot crept in at the far corner of David Button’s goal.

On the day it was revealed the Bolton players were not paid last month owing to the club’s financial problems, Neil Lennon’s side might have snatched only their second Championship win of the season but could not take several good chances.

Smith, who spent five years with Walsall, guiding them to Wembley for the first time in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and leaving them fourth in League One, takes over from interim coach Lee Carsley. A poor start to the season had led to the departure of Marinus Dijkhuizen in September after just three months in charge.

Brentford’s co-director of football, Rasmus Ankersen, said: “We believe Dean is exactly the authentic and strong leader we need to take Brentford forward and ultimately into the Premier League. We have been hugely impressed by Dean’s work at Walsall and especially how he has managed to turn a club with such a low budget into one pushing for promotion.”

Bolton remain bottom of the table and up for sale, with chairman Phil Gartside seriously ill. The club is £172.9m in debt and a statement said the inability to pay the wages was due to a “short-term funding issue” and “the ongoing situation surrounding the club’s ownership off the field”.