Indeed, miserly Wanderers had gone 11 hours and five minutes since their defence had been breached in the Premiership at fortress Reebok.
And it was an equally rare strike this season from Juan Pablo Angel that denied Sam Allardyce's team fourth place on their own from Spurs.
The long-haired Colombian hit-man came off the bench to earn David O'Leary's side a point they just about deserved.
Angel, who hadn't previously scored this season, shot home in the 87th minute after good work by Luke Moore and maybe Bolton need to play twice a week to bring the best out of themselves.
The busy Lancastrians are still heavily involved in all four competitions and, after becoming leg weary after their recent UEFA Cup exploits, they enjoyed a well-deserved rest after beating Arsenal last weekend.
It was Allardyce who had been under the weather in the lead up to the fixture and barred himself from the training ground in order to avoid giving his players a dose of the flu.
But it was the home side that caught cold on this occasion in a match that rarely threatened to warm up the fans.
Despite six bookings from referee Phil Dowd, the encounter was largely lack-lustre for much of the time.
Gary Speed almost broke the stalemate in the opening period with a shot that hit the woodwork while Aaron Hughes cleared off the line from Kevin Davies in the second period.
Thankfully, the contest gained momentum and James Milner brought a good save out of Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Wanderers huffed and puffed and finally wore Villa down thanks mainly to Portugal's Under-21 international Ricardo Vaz Te, who has become something of a talisman for the Lancastrians in recent weeks.
And he again proved himself to be an impact player after replacing Davies. It was his good approach play and pass that set up El Hadji Diouf for what seemed to be the winner in the 82nd minute.
However, Angel delivered the kiss of death to Bolton's victory hopes just six minutes later.
There was just about time for a winner but Wanderers ran out of steam. However, Villa will look upon this result as a welcome draw to help their stuttering season.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Ricardo Gardner (Bolton) - In a tight game his probing runs and precise passing helped to keep the Reebok crowd entertained. His tough tackling also restricted Villa to a handful of half-chances.