Nolan fired past goalkeeper Robert Green from close range after Lubomir Michalik had headed a Jlloyd Samuel cross into his path and in truth it was another battling performance from Gary Megson's men.

Both sides had injuries to contend with prior to the match and the most notable absentee from the Bolton line up was their top goalscorer Nicolas Anelka who had chipped in with six of their eleven league goals for the season.

West Ham had the likes of Dean Ashton, Craig Bellamy, Anton Ferdinand and Mark Noble all missing meaning that Hammers boss Alan Curbishley had to re-shuffle his side somewhat.

The hosts looked to play left winger Matthew Etherington in during the early exchanges and the former Tottenham Hotspur man delivered a couple of crosses of quality towards Lee Bowyer only for Bolton duo Abdoulaye Meite and Ivan Campo to snuff out the danger at the near post.

It was Campo who had Bolton's first attempt of the game on ten minutes but the veteran Spaniard placed his free kick the wrong side of Robert Green's right hand post.

Within the opening twenty minutes West Ham where on top as Bolton defended soundly but new boss Megson will be unhappy at the way in which his defenders failed to clear their lines for the opening goal.

Bolton had been unable to deal with a Hammers corner and through the packed penalty area the ball fell kindly to Northern Ireland international full back George McCartney who lashed home his first career goal on the volley.

McCartney had previously played in over 200 games for the likes of Sunderland and West Ham and his only other previous goal came whilst on international duty with his country.

On 24 minutes and five minutes after giving the home side the lead, McCartney proved to be the hero once again, this time by nodding a curling El-Hadji Diouf effort off his own goal line.

In the midway point of the half there where signs that the old Bolton spirit developed under the Sam Allardyce regime was coming back and the Wanderers proved good value going into the break.

Gary Speed fired wide upon his recall to the side and young midfielder Danny Guthrie struck a post after Kevin Davies had done well to prod the ball into his path.

West Ham also had attempts to further their lead but a Nolberto Solano free kick and a long distance attempt from Luis Boa-Morte failed to trouble Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.

At the start of the second half both sides lost players through injury with Bolton bringing on Lubomir Michalik for Abdoulaye Meite and the Hammers replacing Hayden Mullins with ex-Manchester United scholar Jonathan Spector.

Both sides struggled to create clear chances as the likes of Kevin Davies and Carlton Cole worked tirelessly up front for their respective clubs despite being deployed as lone strikers.

Wanderers skipper Nolan saw his weak effort gathered with ease by Green on 50 minutes and five minutes later Jaaskelainen did well at the other end to tip a Solano effort out for a corner.

On the hour Speed forced Green into a fine save when he tipped the Welshman's effort over the bar as Bolton still gave themselves a fighting chance of gaining an equaliser.

Bolton full back Ricardo Gardner then had a couple of bitter-sweet moments, the first was to head a Luis Boa-Morte cross of the line at the last moment and the second was to make a last ditch tackle on Cole after he had originally given the ball away further upfield.

With fourteen minutes to go a delightful crossfield pass from Guthrie found it's way through to Davies but the Bolton striker could not keep his header down and headed onto the top of the bar instead.

By this point chances of a Bolton equaliser where fading fast and matters where not helped when Nicky Hunt became the second Wanderers defender to go off injured with what appeared to be an arm injury.

To their credit though, Bolton never gave up hope of salvaging something from the contest and right at the death Nolan prodded the ball home to cap off an excellent piece of Wanderers resilience.

Wanderers now travel to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup on Thursday evening and this will be followed by a home visit of struggling Middlesbrough a week today.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt (Gavin McCann), Andy O'Brien, Abdoulaye Meite (Lubomir Michalik), Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Gary Speed (Jlloyd Samuel), El-Hadji Diouf, Kevin Davies

SUBS NOT USED: Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

WEST HAM UNITED: Robert Green, Lucas Neill, Danny Gabbidon, Matthew Upson, George McCartney, Luis Boa-Morte, Lee Bowyer (John Pantsil), Hayden Mullins (Jonathan Spector), Nolberto Solano, Matthew Etherington, Carlton Cole (Henri Camara)

SUBS NOT USED: Kyel Reid, Richard Wright (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

33,867

REFEREE:

Peter Walton

BOOKED:

Hunt (Bolton)

Bowyer (West Ham)

Pantsil (West Ham)

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