Britt Assombalonga bagged a brace as Nottingham Forest held Bolton Wanderers to a 2-2 draw in an entertaining clash at the Reebok Stadium this afternoon.

All four goals were scored in a thrilling first half, as Assombalonga levelled up the game on two occasions after the Trotters had gone ahead through Joe Mason and David Wheater respectively.

The hosts suffered a 3-0 defeat to Watford in last week's curtain raiser, but Dougie Freedman's side carried no ill effects from that loss into today's encounter and took an early lead.

Mason bagged the Bolton's first Championship goal of the campaign, heading Jay Spearing's free kick beyond goalkeeper Karl Darlow after four minutes.

Assombalonga soon equalised with a simple close-range finish, but Wheater re-established the home side's lead moments later by poking home at the near post.

The former Peterborough United hitman then converted a penalty after being fouled by Spearing in the area to cap an end-to-end first-half.

Both sides maintained the frenetic tempo after the break and the pendulum very nearly swung in Bolton's direction when a glancing header from Craig Davies went just wide on 53 minutes.

Assombalonga could, and perhaps should, have bagged his first hat-trick in England's second tier soon after when he headed a Michail Antonio cross narrowly wide of the post.

The two clubs cancelled each other out for the majority of the second half, although Davies again had a good chance to nod Bolton into the lead when his 83rd-minute header sailed over the bar.

It proved the last opportunity of the game as both teams settled for a share of the spoils.