First-half goals from Ollie Norburn and John Marquis saw the sides go in level at the break before Blackpool strikers Jake Beesley and Jordan Rhodes struck in the second half.
The hosts drew first blood thanks to a 30-yard screamer from Norburn that flew into the top corner after 21 minutes.
Rovers equalised shortly after courtesy of Marquis, who was alive inside the area to tap in from close range.
Karamoko Dembele struck a free-kick against the crossbar with Blackpool pushing hard to get back in front before half-time.
They did just that after the interval when Dembele set up Beesley in the first minute of the second half.
Luke Thomas had one ruled out for offside and Dan Grimshaw saved from Aaron Collins as Rovers went in search of an equaliser.
Beesley then made way for Kyle Joseph, who came on and grabbed an assist – setting up Rhodes to steer in his 15th goal of the season to make it 26 points from their 13 home games.
Former Pompey loanee Dale, Jack Beesley , CJ Hamilton and Albie Morgan scored the goals as 10-man Pompey were knocked off the top of the table by Bolton.
The Seasiders took the lead in the ninth minute as Hamilton crossed for the unmarked Dale to find the net.
Pompey should have equalised midway through the first half but new signing Josh Martin could not beat goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw in a one-on-one situation.
Grimshaw then produced a stunning push out from Marvin Ekpiteta’s sliced attempted clearance a few minutes later.
Blackpool made it two 11 minutes into the second half as Karamoko Dembele’s shot was deflected in by Jake Beesley.
Things got worse for Pompey when skipper Joe Morrell received a second yellow card and was sent off in the 64th minute.
Hamilton got a third 16 minutes from time and substitute Morgan sealed the rout with three minutes remaining.
Goalkeepers Dan Grimshaw and Sam Howes both produced excellent performances to ensure the deadlock was not broken and earn newly-promoted Orient their first point of the season.
Shayne Lavery went close to giving Blackpool a fourth-minute lead but Howes was on hand to deny him.
At the other end, Grimshaw superbly kept out Ruel Sotiriou’s header before Joe Pigott fired the rebound over.
Grimshaw also had to be alert just after the half-hour mark, saving Theo Archibald’s first-time shot from the edge of the area.
Lavery then struck the woodwork in the 56th minute, hitting the post after Howes had saved Albie Morgan’s effort.
Orient pushed hard for a winner late on but they were unable to find their way past a Blackpool defence still yet to concede a goal across five games in all competitions.
The hosts nearly snatched all three points in the dying moments but Lavery’s attempt went inches wide.
With Curtis Fleming in interim charge following Michael Appleton’s sacking in midweek, the Addicks were seeking a first win since November and both sides traded early chances.
Hayden Coulson saw an effort blocked on the line before Dan Grimshaw saved brilliantly at the other end from Freddie Ladapo’s header.
Ekpiteta headed inches wide and Jordan Rhodes could not quite squeeze the ball over the line after charging down Ashley Maynard-Brewer’s clearance.
Kyle Joseph then saw an effort cleared superbly by visiting defender Lucas Ness, via his own post, and the woodwork came to Charlton’s rescue again shortly after the restart when the Blackpool striker thumped a shot against the crossbar.
The Seasiders broke the deadlock when Karamoko Dembele met Albie Morgan’s pass before drilling low into the corner.
But Charlton levelled in the 69th minute when Alfie May’s shot took a wicked deflection off Ekpiteta and beat the unlucky Grimshaw.
May came closest to a late winner, but both sides had to settle for a point.
The first half was League One football at its finest, with end-to-end entertainment. George Thomason opened the scoring for Bolton just nine minutes in, but goals from Jake Beesley and Marvin Ekpiteta turned the game around before half-time.
Beesley grabbed his second after 68 minutes, and Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel added a fourth late on.
It was Bolton who drew first blood when Thomason’s shot from the edge of the box arrowed in to give the visitors an early advantage.
The lead was only short-lived, though. Blackpool hit back thanks to a sumptuous strike from Beesley that curled into the top corner.
The hosts were soon ahead as Ekpiteta reacted fastest after Joel Coleman saved George Byers’ initial header.
It went from bad to worse for Bolton when captain Ricardo Santos received a straight red card in the 66th minute for bringing down Kyle Joseph inside the area. Beesley converted his spot-kick emphatically.
Lawrence-Gabriel completed the rout, finishing off a stunning counter-attack in style by slotting home.
CJ Hamilton opened the scoring in the fifth minute as he sidefooted a shot into the top corner, despite Josh Grant’s best efforts on the line. It came after a run and low cross from Kyle Joseph.
Luke Thomas then spurned a gilt-edged chance for the hosts three minutes later when he met Harvey Vale’s cross but failed to put the ball past goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell.
Instead Karamoko Dembele fired high into the net following more good work from Joseph to double the Tangerines’ lead in the 19th minute.
Chris Martin delicately lobbed in to halve the deficit five minutes later following a long throw being flicked on by Tristan Crama, but Rovers could not go on and find an equaliser.
It was only a third away league away win of the season for Neil Critchley’s side, who boosted their pursuit of a play-off place after surviving a stoppage-time shout for a penalty when Aaron Collins was tackled in the area.
The opener came 19 minutes in as a neat passing move eventually broke down but when Albie Morgan’s pass rebounded off a defender’s legs, it fell kindly for Lavery to fire home.
Blackpool should have had a second moments later, but Morgan shot wide with the unmarked Lavery screaming for a pass to give him a simple tap-in.
Lavery’s second goal came from his harrying of Brewers centre-back Sam Hughes, who surrendered possession too easily, the striker showing great composure to lob stranded keeper Jamal Blackman.
Burton posed precious little threat in the first half though Joe Powell almost pulled one back in stoppage time, Dan Grimshaw palming his shot over.
Lavery blew a chance to complete his hat-trick 10 minutes after the break, skewing horribly wide.
At the other end Josh Gordon had Burton’s best chance but a deflection took his finish wide and, with little else to trouble them, Blackpool eased to a comfortable victory.
The hosts had several chances to win the game but were unable to convert any as the stalemate left them six points off the top six with five games to play.
CJ Hamilton found space down the left early on, but Shayne Lavery could not get on the end of his cross.
Matty Virtue and Sonny Carey both took aim but were denied by Wycombe goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli
.
It continued to be one way traffic until half-time, with Carey and Matthew Pennington firing just wide.
Wycombe improved at the start of the second half, prompting Pool boss Neil Critchley to make a triple substitution in the 63rd minute as Karamoko Dembele, Jake Beesley and George Byers entered the action.
The trio had little impact initially and the visitors should have taken the lead through their substitute Sam Vokes, who volleyed over from close range.
Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel and Beesley then forced good saves from Ravizzoli, and Kylian Kouassi headed just over as Blackpool searched desperately for a late winner which failed to arrive.
Gethin Jones was dismissed for Wanderers just before half-time and Posh went on to hit the woodwork three times in the second half.
In a flurry of action at the end of the first half, Jonson Clarke-Harris headed home Harrison Burrows’ superb cross to give Darren Ferguson’s side a 42nd-minute lead.
But Adeboyejo bagged his fifth goal of the campaign three minutes later after Nicholas Bilokapic only parried Josh Dacres-Cogley’s cross into the striker’s path.
Then, in first-half stoppage time, Jones, deputising as skipper for the injured Ricardo Santos, was dismissed by referee Ross Joyce for his challenge on Ricky-Jade Jones.
Peterborough, who had 25 shots, dominated the second half with Burrows twice striking the woodwork – as did Bolton defender Jack Iredale from Posh wing-back Peter Kioso’s cross.
In swirling winds and driving rain, Evatt hailed his side’s application as they dominated their hosts and took the points with second-half goals by Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo.
And the manager could not disguise his delight after Wanderers completed 2023 with three straight wins.
“I’m really proud of the players tonight,” he said. “That was a really professional, clinical performance in awful conditions.
“We always look to the past to judge our journey and how far we’ve come. I think in years gone by we wouldn’t have performed as we did tonight in these conditions.
“We didn’t panic in the first half when we had all the pressure, all the shots and all the domination.
“The goals didn’t go in but at half-time we just spoke about being calm and executing what we’re capable of in the second half and we went out and did that and we kept them at arm’s length in awful conditions, so that’s a proper away performance.
“We’re not always going to have it our own way but what we’ve managed to do is find different ways to win football matches. These conditions tonight are as bad as it gets for football and the way we want to play but I was so proud of the way we went about our business.
“We know what we need to do on nights like these, we know when to build and play and be expansive and we also know when to utilise the front lads, play into good areas and play for territory.
“There’s no right or wrong way to win football matches, it’s all about winning and that’s what we’ve done.”
Fleetwood manager Lee Johnson admitted his side are struggling at present, having not won since mid-November, but he insists they can drag themselves away from trouble in the second half of the season.
“It was a tough game,” he said. “We knew the quality that Bolton have and they’re a well established side that are up there. They’ve had time to build, it’s a good club, an ex-Premier League club, but we felt at half-time that we had a good chance.
“We’d defended ever so well in treacherous conditions and the spirit was good, we’re not affecting boxes anywhere near enough, we know that, and we have to because obviously wins are very important.
“But we came out for the second half believing conditions were in our favour. You’ve got to give credit to Bolton, but in the end we were masters of our own downfall again, with individual errors.
“And that feels a bit like the story of the calendar year for us and if we want to get out of trouble they’re the bits that we have to stop.
“I’m certainly up for the fight. We’ve got 23 games now and we’re going to need a number of wins so the first thing we need to do is stop the individual errors.”
Victor Adeboyejo quickly cancelled out a 42nd-minute opener by Jonson Clarke-Harris before Gethin Jones slid in on Ricky-Jade Jones in first-half stoppage time.
Trotters manager Evatt was booked by referee Ross Joyce in the heated touchline argument that followed
Peterborough hit the woodwork three times in the second period but Bolton’s 10 men held firm for a “point gained” according to Evatt.
“I think it was a yellow (card),” he said about Gethin Jones’ challenge. “I spoke to the referee post-game and he gave me an honest assessment of what he thought with the red.
“I obviously disagree but at least we had the conversation. The biggest frustration was my yellow card.
“I didn’t swear, I wasn’t aggressive, I wasn’t abusive. I took a step out of my technical area to which I saw their manager leave their technical area.
“Their assistant left his seat and got to the front of the pitch where you are only supposed to have one up.
“Yet in all the melee and chaos I got yellow carded. The answer I got was the fourth official’s focus was on me.
“So, the players did remarkably well to take a point being down to 10 for so long.
“We rode our luck at times but one of my favourite phrases is ‘hard work puts you where good luck finds you’.
“I am glad we got a point but the rest of the game is going to take some debriefing.”
Ferguson saw the first-half flashpoint differently: “It was as clear a red card as you are likely to see,” he said.
“So, I don’t know what the pandemonium was about. It was dangerous and I don’t know why because Ricky wasn’t going anywhere.
“He is lucky because he finds these tackles a lot. One day it is going to prove a bad injury.
“But I don’t know if it was a good thing they got a man sent off. It gave them an easy decision to make and they just sat in.”
Ferguson said he was pleased with his team’s performance but not the result.
“Generally, when you hit the post three times, you expect one of them to go in,” he added.
“We played well in the first half, went toe-to-toe with them, and thought we looked dangerous.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the rub of the green in the second half.”
Wildsmith was sent off after 48 minutes for handling a Dion Charles shot outside his area after he had tackled Victor Adeboyejo in the initial attack.
Josh Vickers, who came on to make his County league debut as Wildsmith’s replacement, was beaten in the 65th minute as Josh Dacres-Cogley’s cross hit Fornah and looped over him.
Bolton fell behind when skipper Conor Hourihane’s 33rd-minute penalty put the visitors in front after Adeboyejo hauled down Callum Elder.
Two minutes before half-time, referee Charles Breakspear awarded another spot-kick – this time for Wanderers – after Korey Smith’s challenge on Josh Sheehan.
Northern Ireland international striker Charles converted for his fifth goal in as many games.
Three minutes after the break, the game took another twist. Substitute Sonny Bradley’s mistake saw Wildsmith attempt to rescue the situation, blocking Adeboyejo’s run but then handling as Charles tried to fire home from 20 yards.
Derby were further frustrated as claims for another penalty for a tackle on Nathaniel Mendez-Laing went unheeded as Bolton won for the first time in four games.
Bolton finished third in the league last season behind Portsmouth and Derby County before losing out in the play-off semi-finals against eventual promotion winners Oxford United.
The Welsh side, meanwhile, were promoted from the fourth tier and opened their League One campaign with a 3-2 victory over Wycombe Wanderers last time out.
Parkinson's side and Ian Evatt's hosts could not be separated on Sunday, however, as the visiting manager suggested the result shows Wrexham are equal to the level of the third-tier competition.
"It was a good test and I was interested to see how we fared," said Parkinson.
"They started so quickly and we didn't quite react to that. But we grew into the game. We showed at times we have got quality. We had moments, so did they.
"It was important for us as well to show we can compete at this level, at the top end of the division. I felt we did that.
"At times in the second period, we gained some control with the ball and looked like we could go on and win it. But we had to rely on Arthur [Okonkwo] for one particular outstanding save."
Parkinson believes his faith in ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Okonkwo, who denied the impressive Dion Charles, has paid off after his successful attempts to sign him.
"I said to the owners in the summer Arthur was a key signing," Parkinson added. "He is someone who can grow with the club.
"He's not just a good keeper, he is a good character as well. Everyone saw his quality. He was immaculate."
Over 24 League One contests on home soil last season, Bolton had 15 wins, five draws, and four losses, and Evatt felt the home side should have continued that impressive record on Sunday.
Bolton were also denied a stoppage-time penalty for a shirt pull on skipper Ricardo Santos, much to the dismay of Evatt.
"I thought we deserved to win it," Evatt said. "We were the team probing and asking questions for large spells. We should have and probably could have gone ahead and we had enough chances to win it.
"For a team like them that ask you lots of questions and score a lot of goals, they didn't create a great deal. They really celebrated the draw so that shows where we are at."
Ian Evatt’s side took the lead in the 16th minute through a fine curling effort by Randell Williams from the edge of the penalty area, his left-footed strike clipped in off the inside of the left post.
Bolton made it 2-0 eight minutes later. Dion Charles lashed in from close range from Josh Dacres-Cogley’s pass for his 10th goal of the campaign.
Charlton struggled to create chances until late in the first half, when Alfie May volleyed wide after he met a Scott Fraser corner.
The Addicks improved after the restart but needed goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer to be alert to deny Charles after the Bolton striker was set up by Victor Adeboyejo on the hour mark.
May smashed over after the ball was laid into his path by substitute Miles Leaburn.
Williams had two late attempts to add to his tally but sent one narrowly wide of the far upright and then could not keep his second strike down.
Will Forrester came the closest to scoring a winner for the visitors when he clattered the crossbar.
Wanderers have won just two of their last eight matches and have slipped six points off second-placed Derby, albeit with a game in hand.
As for Stevenage they are now winless in their last six and sit a point outside the play-off places.
Despite neither team managing to find a way past either goalkeeper, it was not for the lack of trying.
Stevenage’s Ben Thompson controlled Kane Smith’s fifth-minute cross but flashed his strike past the post.
Boro were then saved by goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond, who recovered quickly to collect Cameron Jerome’s shot off the line.
Bolton started to slowly build confidence and from a corner, Forrester directed Nathanael Ogbeta’s corner on to the crossbar.
Thompson missed Boro’s best chance to snatch victory with six minutes remaining as he scuffed his finish after Jordan Roberts intercepted Ricardo Santos’ pass and laid it off to the midfielder.
Collins netted a stunning 11th-minute opener and then converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time after Lewis Wing’s deflected long-range effort brought the Royals level.
He completed his first treble for more than two years after 77 minutes as Bolton closed to within three points of second-placed Derby, who travel to leaders Portsmouth on Tuesday night.
Wanderers had not beaten Reading on home turf since the sides met in the Premier League in 2007.
But they took an early lead as Collins found the top corner from 25 yards.
Wing responded five minutes before half-time but Collins restored the advantage ahead of the break, scoring from the spot after being fouled by Amadou Mbengue.
Collins then played a role in the build-up to Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s clever close-range finish in the 49th minute before completing his treble by lashing into the roof of the net.
Paul Mukairu grabbed a consolation in stoppage time for Reading, who are six points clear of the drop, but there was still time for Bodvarsson to score his second.
The encounter started off slow before a howler by Max Stryjek in the Wanderers goal gifted Ian Evatt’s high-flying side the lead after 15 minutes.
Paris Maghoma got a first goal on his third start for the club since joining on loan from Brentford after he let fly a tame shot from 20 yards, which Stryjek inexplicably spilled over the line.
The visitors then doubled their lead through a brilliant George Thomason lob nine minutes before the break for his first strike of the season.
However, Wycombe pulled a goal back moments into the second half through a wonder strike from Luke Leahy, before David Wheeler equalised for the home side with less than 10 minutes remaining.
It looked like Wycombe were going to go for the win, before an Eoin Toal header in the 85th minute and an Aaron Morley penalty four minutes later snatched victory for the Trotters in the dying embers.
The result means Wycombe drop to 10th whilst Bolton remain in fourth.
Referee Sunny Singh Gill took the players off the field just after 3.30pm as medical staff went to help the supporter.
And 30 minutes later the match was officially abandoned, but no further update was given over the individual involved.
A Bolton statement read: “Due to a medical emergency in the crowd, today’s game has been postponed.
“Our thoughts are with the family concerned. More information will follow.”
Aiden O’Brien volleyed against the crossbar from just outside the area three minutes after half-time for Shrewsbury.
Jevani Brown hit the post in the 86th minute as the home side went close to finding a late winner, with a left foot shot from just inside the area after an Antony Evans pass.
Chris Martin could have broken the deadlock in the 12th minute after Brandon Aguilera won the ball high up the pitch and fed the striker but Martin’s clipped finish just missed the goal.
Tom Bayliss blazed over the bar in first half stoppage-time in the Shrews’ best opportunity to score in the first period.
Sam Finley’s volley at goal in the 33rd minute was straight at visiting goalkeeper Marko Marosi, who saved again two minutes later as Luca Hoole released Martin through but wide of goal.
Rovers substitute Grant Ward spurned a great chance to decide the contest in the 70th minute when he miskicked Luke Thomas’ cutback.
However, a game marked by several tetchy off-the-ball confrontations between players finished goalless.
Chris Martin put Rovers in control after 10 minutes with his second goal in two games, beating Lee Burge with the help of a post with a clever close-range back-heeled finish following Aaron Collins’ cut-back.
It was the perfect opening for interim boss Andy Mangan, but Northampton almost equalised soon after with Brentford loanee Matt Cox’s fine save denying Sam Sherring after he broke clear.
Rovers dominated possession and Evans doubled the lead on the half-hour, calmly beating Burge from the penalty spot after the former Sunderland goalkeeper felled Collins.
The hosts looked on course for a comfortable victory, but Emmanuel Monthe halved the lead after 57 minutes when he nodded in Mitchell Pinnock’s free-kick.
Veteran striker Martin looked to have restored the two-goal cushion when he finished Collins’ low cross, but celebrations were cut short by an offside flag before the home defence stood firm in a tense finale.
