On this day in 2002 the Wanderers edged a seven goal thriller at the Reebok Stadium and whilst this contest wasn't quite as entertaining the game did have a number of talking points, not least Anelka's winner which was his sixth goal in the last seven matches.

The visitors dominated the game early on and England U21 star James Milner went almighty close when his free kick from distance curled just around Jussi Jaaskelainen's left hand post.

Newcastle's front three often gave their opponents something to think about in the early exchanges with Obafemi Martins in particular showing good speed and agility to get away from the Wanderers defence.

It was a defensive mistake from an unlikely source which handed Newcastle the lead on eight minutes as Kieron Dyer dispossessed striker Kevin Davies in the left back area to fire the ball past Jaaskelainen.

Nearly ten minutes later Newcastle could have so easily extended their lead as Martins took advantage of a mistake by Bolton defender Abdoulaye Faye but the quicksilver Nigerian front man screwed his effort just wide of goal.

Just after the half hour mark the Magpies threatened once again as Milner probed his way into the area. Goalkeeper Jaaskelainen doing exteremely well to tip over the resulting shot by the ex-Leeds United youngster.

Bolton netted themselves an unlikely equaliser on 36 minutes when central defender Peter Ramage inadvertantly headed the ball past his own goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek after being put under pressure by Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan.

Newcastle's defence was one of the youngest in the league this afternoon as it included David Edgar, Steven Taylor, Peter Ramage and Paul Huntington, all of whom are graduates from the successful Magpies youth academy.

Bolton's equaliser literally brought them back into the game and a great run down the left from Nicolas Anelka set up midfielder Gary Speed. However there was to be no celebration from the former Toon Army favourite as he could only fire his acrobatic shot high over Srnicek's crossbar.

The start of the second half saw the Wanderers continue to assert their strength on the game and by now any Newcastle pressure was resulted to a minimum.

On 57 minutes Campo's long throw in was flicked on by Davies and turned into the mix by El-Hadji Diouf and Nicolas Anelka finished the move off by firing home past Srnicek from close range.

Good will to all men nearly went out of the window in the closing twenty minutes of the game as Ivan Campo was reprimanded for swiping out at Newcastle's Antoine Sibierski and United pair Paul Huntington and Nicky Butt faced the wrath of referee Howard Webb for their respective challenges on El-Hadji Diouf and Tal Ben-Haim..

Substitutes Guiseppe Rossi and Emre breathed a whimper of life into Newcastle but Bolton finished the game much stronger than they had started it earlier in the afternoon.<.p>

Portsmouth are the next visitors to the Reebok Stadium this weekend as the two sides hope to continue with their European aspirations but for now a win against a side on the back of good form such as Newcastle is a perfect belated Christmas present indeed for Bolton.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Faye, Abdoulaye Meite, Tal Ben-Haim, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Gary Speed, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf (Henrik Pedersen)

Subs Not Used: Ricardo Gardner, Ricardo Vaz-Te, Idan Tal, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

Newcastle United: Pavel Srnicek, David Edgar, Steven Taylor, Peter Ramage, Paul Huntington, Scott Parker, Nicky Butt, James Milner (Guiseppe Rossi), Kieron Dyer (Berzoglu Emre), Antoine Sibierski, Obafemi Martins

Subs Not Used: Albert Luque, Matty Pattison, Tim Krul (GK)

Referee:

Howard Webb

Attendance:

26,437

Booked:

Nicky Butt (Newcastle)

Kevin Davies (Bolton)

El-Hadji Diouf (Bolton)

Ivan Campo (Bolton)

Paul Huntington (Newcastle)

Guiseppe Rossi (Newcastle)

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