GORDON STRACHAN shuffled his pack once again but didn't quite pull out the ace he was hoping for.

The Saints boss has chopped and changed his line-up in recent weeks in the search for more goals and more points and for the first time this season altered his formation.

Anders Svensson was given the floating role that made him a World Cup star for Sweden in a 4-4-1-1 formation.

But, despite the fact Saints got on the scoresheet and took their first away point of the season, it was hard to say whether the experiment was a success or a failure.

Certainly Svensson is better suited to a floating role than a disciplined central midfield job in a 4-4-2 formation but it didn't quite work as it might have done.

Jo Tessem was the lone striker for Saints and, despite battling hard, he looked out of position and the team appeared more balanced when natural front man James Beattie replaced him on 65 minutes.

But there was certainly more goal threat than at any other time this season, although Bolton had the majority of the best chances.

Trotters boss Sam Allardyce praised Saints' hard work and organisation but felt that, until Wayne Bridge produced Southampton's goal, Bolton seemed the only side who were going to win it.

He said: "I would have been sick if we got nothing out of the game. I would have been totally dejected but that's how cruel the Premiership can be and for us good performances are always important but they will never be as important as results.

"It was a lapse in concentration and poor finishing that stopped us winning.

"Southampton played as a good, tight unit and played to try and do well on the break but the bottom line is with the chances we had we should have won the game.

"Full marks to their goalkeeper, who had a great game.

"They made us frustrated. You know by their last results that they don't concede many goals but they also don't score many.

"When their goal came along I just couldn't believe it.

"In the end we were very grateful to get one point but it was a match where we should have had all three."

Once again the match was highly unspectacular and anybody who just walked in for the last eight minutes would not have missed much.

Bridge's goal, only his second for Saints, came on 82 minutes. Anders Svensson laid the ball into his path and he stormed through, skipped past the challenge of Ivan Campo to rifle home.

On closer inspection it appeared the shot got a deflection which took it past Jussi Jaaskelainen but they all count.

Moments later came perhaps the pivotal moment of the game when Beattie capitalised on indecision in the Bolton defence to beat the goalkeeper to the ball and lift it over his head but only on to the roof of the net.

Deep into stoppage time Bolton got the goal they had been pushing for.

Michael Ricketts's long throw was flicked on by Mike Whitlow to Youri Djorkaeff, unmarked at the far post and the Frenchman side-footed home to earn his side a point.

Before the goals, what few chances there had been fell to Bolton.

Antti Niemi was called upon to produce some good saves, there were some poor misses - in particular from Ricketts - and most of the pressure came from the home side.

The closest they actually got was Gudni Bergsson's header which clipped the top of the bar.

For Saints, Fabrice Fernandes was a threat early on as Bolton's policy of pushing Djorkaeff up from the left to become a third striker left the Saints winger with plenty of time and space but even he was eventually closed down by Gareth Farrelly.

Anders Svensson came close on a couple of occasions and Jaaskelainen had a couple of decent saves to make.

Saints looked more dangerous and more likely to score than in most of their previous games but oddly seemed more likely to concede as well with Bolton taking their role as the attacking home side very seriously.

Whether or not Strachan will stick with this formation and way of playing remains to be seen.

Away from home it is ideal as Saints are able to soak up the pressure and hit on the counter attack, always with two solid banks of four protecting the goalkeeper.

But it's a different kettle of fish when they are at home. The expectation is on them to attack and this formation is not perfectly suited to that, so it leaves either a change in style for home games or a change in philosophy.

Who'd be a manager?