THE man known as the Blue Dragon will not remember his visit to the land of the red dragon with any great fondness.

Bolton’s South Korean international Chung-Yong Lee suffered a badly broken leg after a challenge by Newport County’s Tom Miller, and that cast a big shadow over Saturday’s pre-season friendly.

Miller’s tackle was robust but did not appear to be malicious and he was immediately substituted and reduced to tears.

Lee, who scored two goals for Korea at last year’s World Cup, started the match superbly and his quick feet were just too quick for the distraught Miller. The 23-year-old was given oxygen at the scene before being taken by ambulance to the Royal Gwent Hospital for x-rays, and the double fracture to the lower right leg was confirmed yesterday.

Play was held up for seven or eight minutes after the incident on 25 minutes and the match never really recovered its intensity after a bright opening from both sides.

Exiles boss Anthony Hudson was pleased with his side’s performance against vastly superior Premier League talents and there were a lot of positives for him to take from the match.

Hudson has been at pains to point out this month that results don’t matter until the real action starts against Kettering on August 13.

And, despite this defeat – County’s first this pre-season – he will have been delighted with the way Danny Potter, Ismail Yakubu, Lee Baker, Danny Rose, Felino Jardim, Sam Foley and Elliott Buchanan fared against a near-full strength Bolton side.

Trotters boss Owen Coyle fielded all his new signings in Nigel Reo-Coker, Darren Pratley, Tyrone Mears and Chris Eagles with only injured striker Kevin Davies missing.

Arsenal target Gary Cahill remained on the bench until 15 minutes from the end, but make no mistake, this was a formidable test for County.

Striker Buchanan got his first goal in an amber shirt to give the hosts a shock lead on 11 minutes.

A great ball over the top from left-back Baker saw Buchanan race clear and slot the ball underneath Jussi Jaaskelainen with ease.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as Bolton levelled on 15 minutes.

In what was perhaps a sign that this wasn’t going to be his day, Miller, who played alongside captain Yakubu in central defence, turned an Ivan Klasnic cross into his own net from just a yard out.

Seven minutes later it was 2-1 to the visitors as Klasnic beat Potter with a bullet header from Paul Robinson’s left-wing cross.

After Lee had been stretchered off to applause from all of the 2,000-plus crowd, Gary Warren replaced Miller, but despite some heroics from Potter they couldn’t stem the Trotters’ tide.

Klasnic hit the post from a yard out when it would have been easier to score and then finally did get his second to make it 3-1 in the second minute of time added on.

Guillame Velez replaced Paul Rodgers at half-time with the Frenchman slotting into central midfield and Paul Robson reverting to right-back.

Velez, who is expected to sign a contract along with Rodgers today, showed his usual neat touches and fellow new boy Jardim caused Paul Robinson and Martin Petrov real problems on the right wing.

Starting on the left was Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder Ben Johnson, who is likely to seal a loan move to Spytty Park in the next week.

He was replaced by Andrew Hughes with 20 minutes remaining and did enough to suggest he would be a valuable addition to the squad on a short-term deal.

The second half was relatively uneventful with the Bolton players’ minds no doubt straying to their team-mate’s hospital bedside and County happy not to concede again.

Reo-Coker, who enjoyed a real battle with Rose in the centre of the park, went close and substitute Fabrice Muamba also fired just wide.

Potter made a great reflex save from Pratley and at the other end Foley was the man who caused Bolton most problems.

Given the afternoon’s events Hudson will have been relieved at the final whistle that all his players got through the match unscathed and pleased that he won’t come up against a side of this quality again in the season ahead.

Friday’s trip to Welsh Premier League side Neath is the last first-team warm-up game before the big kick-off at Nene Park and County should have injured duo Craig McAllister and Scott Rogers back for that one, as well as Tommy Doherty, who was also missing on Saturday.

County: Potter, Rodgers (Velez, 45), Baker (Hatswell, 82), Miller (Warren, 30), Johnson (Hughes, 69), Yakubu, Rose, Robson, Buchanan, Foley, Jardim.

Sub not used: Greening Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Mears, Wheater, Knight, Robinson (Davies, 55), Lee (Blake, 32), Reo-Coker, Pratley (Muamba, 55), Petrov (Gardner, 55, Cahill, 75), Klasnic (Steinsson, 64), Eagles.

Sub not used: Lainton.

Referee: Tim Wood (Gloucester).

Attendance: 2,007.

Argus star man: Rose.