An equaliser from Chris O'Grady six minutes from time was the highlight of an entertaining game at Spotland in which Dale and Bolton shared a goal each.
It's the age old cliché that you can never read too much into pre-season games, but those in attendance at Spotland on Saturday afternoon will have left the ground impressed with what they saw.
Keith Hill stuck with the same starting eleven as he did at Fleetwood, probably through a lack of options as much as choice, with the new home kit being worn for the first time and looking far better than the artists impression that we'd been limited to up until today.
The draw was the fair result, with Bolton taking a first half lead through a Robbie Blake penalty, before a long range finish by Chris O'Grady secured a share of the spoils for Dale in the last few minutes.
There were impressive performances all over the field for Dale, with all four new signings coming out of the game with plenty of plaudits - particularly left back Joe Widdowson.
Two trialists came on in the second half for Dale, with Matty Done coming on for Joe Thompson, and Dean Morgan on for JLAA.
Dale: Josh Lillis, Scott Wiseman, Joe Widdowson, Marcus Holness, Craig Dawson, Jason Kennedy, Gary Jones, Brian Barry-Murphy, Joe Thompson (Matty Done), John-Louis Akpa Akpro (Dean Morgan), Chris O'Grady