The North East visitors had found themselves 3-0 up within the first half an hour when goals from Charles N'Zogbia and a Obafemi Martins double put Newcastle in the driving seat.

Bolton where sloppy in possession and out of ideas in attack in the first half and the nearest they came to a goal within the opening half was when ex-Magpies favourite Gary Speed saw his shot cleared off the line by Alan Smith.

James Milner on the left flank and eventual matchwinner Martins on the right flank caused the Wanderers a whole host of problems with their wing play and debutant Mark Viduka worked hard up front to test Bolton's makeshift defence of Abdoulaye Faye and Gerald Cid.

The first goal came on eleven minutes when N'Zogbia's free kick on the right flank eluded everybody in the penalty area and made its way into Jussi Jaaskelainen's right corner.

It was a goal that justified the run of play as the Trotters could not get near their visitors and even when they did they didnt do much to hurt them.

Ten minutes later United doubled their advantage when Milner's delightful curling cross from the left was acrobatically converted by Nigerian international Martins.

Bolton manager Sammy Lee will not be happy at the way in which the former Inter Milan player was allowed to get his overhead kick in on goal.

Three miinutes after the Newcastle goal Speed could have restored some parity for Bolton following some good work down the right by Nicky Hunt.

The veteran Welshman got his shot in on goal to beat former team mate Harper but two Newcastle defenders including Alan Smith prevented the ball from going in.

Speed protested vehemently but referee Chris Foy waved away any appeals and allowed the game to carry on regardless and this decision came back to haunt Wanderers on 27 minutes.

After the hosts gave the ball away cheaply in midfield, Martins ran into the Bolton half and unleashed a deflected shot from distance which trickled weakly past a wrong footed Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.

Wanderers did have one or two half chances as the half drew to a close. Firstly in a packed penalty area Nolan's flick was gathered comfortably by Harper and then new boy McCann unleashed a shot from the right corner of the box which just swerved over.

At half time Bolton made an enforced change with El-Hadji Diouf coming off the bench in place of the injured Vaz-Te and the Senegal star immediately made an impact for a more hungry Wanderers team.

The opening 20 minutes of the second half was all Bolton and they looked a totally different side to the one which had gone into the half time interval.

Firstly skipper Nolan fired over Harper's crossbar and then Speed stung the fingers of the Newcastle goalkeeper when lashing in a shot after Nicolas Anelka and Kevin Davies had worked the ball from right to left.

On 50 minutes the Trotters newly found enthusiasm was rewarded when Anelka pulled a goal back after being put through on the counter attack by Nolan.

The one time Arsenal and Manchester City favourite drew Harper off his line before firing the ball into the far corner to bring Wanderers back into the game.

Ex-Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce appeared in the Newcastle dugout soonafter and this was met with a number of boos from the home support.

Bolton suffered yet another injury blow on the hour when Davies was withdrawn and his place was taken by summer recruit Heidar Helguson.

The Icelander was putting himself about in his opening few moments on the field and his first piece of action in Wanderers colours was to be yellow carded by referee Foy for a foul on one time Bolton target David Rozehnal.

Allardyce surprisingly took off goalscorer Martins to bring on Newcastle fans favourite Nolberto Solano and Shola Ameobi came into the fray in place of Viduka.

For Bolton, Mikel Alonso got his first taste of English football when replacing the hardworking Speed but despite a few nice touches the Spaniard could not inspire Bolton to pull another goal back.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Faye, Gerald Cid, Jlloyd Samuel, Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann, Gary Speed (Mikel Alonso), Ricardo Vaz-Te (El-Hadji Diouf), Kevin Davies (Heidar Helguson), Nicolas Anelka

Subs Not Used: Ali Al-Habsi (GK), James Sinclair

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Steve Harper, Stephen Carr, Steven Taylor, David Rozenhal, Geremi, Nicky Butt, Alan Smith, Charles N'Zogbia, James Milner (Peter Ramage), Mark Viduka (Shola Ameobi), Obafemi Martins (Nolberto Solano)

Subs Not Used: Fraser Forster (GK), Claudio Cacapa

ATTENDANCE:

25,414

REFEREE:

Chris Foy

BOOKED:

Helguson (Bolton)

Geremi (Newcastle)

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