NEIL Lennon is resigned to losing star striker Zach Clough.

Bristol City have had a £3million bid accepted by Wanderers for the 20-year-old academy product and he was left behind for today’s 1-1 draw at non-league Eastleigh in the FA Cup third round.

It is not yet clear whether Clough will accept the move – regarded by many Whites fans as a sideways step. But financial pressures at Bolton are such that the cash raised could make the difference between paying the £2million-plus tax bill due on January 18 or hitting the wall completely.

Wanderers would also need around the same sum of money to go into voluntary administration.

Mark Davies’s £750,000 move to Sheffield Wednesday has still not been completed, but he too sat out today’s game at the Silverlake Stadium.

Lennon admits the absence of both players hit his preparations hard – but the prospect of losing them for good makes his job a great deal more difficult in the future.

Speaking after today’s game he said: “You are preparing all week and you are told on Thursday and Friday that bids have been accepted for both players.

“Zach was down to start but we have to raise capital from somewhere. They are two of our better players and it makes my job harder but we have got to work with what we have got.”

Asked if he expected Clough’s deal to go through, Lennon said: “It is down to the player.

“The fee has been accepted but I don’t know how negotiations have gone It is really disappointing because he has only been with us for a year.

“He is one has come through the ranks and one we think is a prized asset but we are going to lose him.”

Darren Pratley’s 87th equaliser ensured Wanderers’ name would be in the hat for the fourth round, sparing their blushes at Eastleigh.

Dorian Dervite’s own goal early in the second half appeared to be sending the Whites towards their first defeat in 105 years against non-league opposition.

Played on a quagmire of a pitch, the game was only given the official go-ahead by referee Iain Williamson about 90 minutes before kick-off, by which time the 1,100 travelling Wanderers fans had already arrived at the stadium.

A relieved Lennon was delighted to get a replay in the end, which could also attract television revenue.

“I have not seen conditions like that in a long time in professional football,” he told The Bolton News.

“It’s a job half done. We still have a fixture to play at home. To come here takes a lot of character to come back. There wasn’t much quality but we are still in the hat.

“Second half we dominated. I know they got the break of the goal and we should have stopped the cross earlier. But their goalkeeper made three or four outstanding saves and you always think the longer the game went on they might tire. And they did.

“We had a couple of good chances towards the end of the first half and we started peppering the goal a bit more in the second half.

“It was difficult to play in. These games are ugly and I know from my own experience how difficult they can be. I am pleased we negotiated a draw out of it.”