The contest had a number of twists and turns to it and both sides looked to take advatage of their opponents weak points with the game being very evenly poised for most of the first half.

Bolton suffered a big blow in the build up to the game as in form centre half Andy O'Brien had to withdraw through illness so manager Gary Megson gave Lubomir Michalik a start alongside Abdoulaye Meite.

Within the opening minute the visitors went for broke to set the fast pace of the game and Wanderers skipper Kevin Nolan was unlucky not to feed through former City striker Nicolas Anelka from the left as the City defence cleared.

It would be fair to say it was all about attacking play in the opening moments and in the sixth minute City took the lead thanks to a little help from the Bolton rearguard.

Ricardo Gardner was caught ball watching and this allowed the lively Vassell to get to the byline and shoot straight at Wanderers goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The loose ball ricocheted back to the striker and he cut the ball back for youngster Michael Johnson who in turn laid off to Italian forward Rolando Bianchi to slot home the opener.

City could have increased their lead a couple of minutes later when Bulgarian midfielder Martin Petrov fired a rather tame free kick straight into the grasp of Jaaskelainen and a header from Vassell and a miscued shot from Didi Hamann fared little better soonafter.

On 25 minutes City saw some good fortune go their way as former favourite Anelka saw his shot from a Danny Guthrie through ball come back off the outer side of the far post.

This prompted Bolton to up their game and on the half hour Anelka again fired just wide of Andreas Isaksson's right hand post after Kevin Davies had nodded a fantastic Nicky Hunt cross into his path.

A minute later the game was all square when Diouf started and finished the move which saw him net a rare goal. The Senegal star played the ball into Davies who hit a cross come shot towards goal but before Isaksson could make a save the onrushing Diouf fired the ball into the roof of the net.

Bolton where finishing the half very strongly and just under five minutes before the break they took the lead thanks largely to some excellent determination from defender Gardner in the build up.

The Jamaican looked to atone for his earlier error when chasing down what seemed to be a routine City clearance only Gardner never gave up and cut the ball back in from the left to Nolan who fired a bouncing shot into the bottom corner after taking a touch on his initial shot.

On-loan Guthrie then made a break down the right hand side of the field but the Liverpool youngster could not direct his shot on target and instead hit the side netting.

Referee Peter Walton blew for the half time break but it was something which Bolton would have preferred not to do as they had forced themselves into the driving seat.

The fifteen minute rest allowed City boss Sven Goran Eriksson to re-organise his troops and they came out in the second half with renewed fight and optimism and just three minutes after the re-start found themselves level.

Vassell had made another burst into the Bolton penalty area only to find himself heading down a dead end, so the ex-Aston Villa and England man cut the ball back for Didi Hamann to have a crack at goal and luckily the veteran German saw his effort skim off the head of Lubomir Michalik and past Jaaskelainen to tie the game once more.

On 54 minutes Bolton so nearly had a third goal when Jaaskelainen's long clearance up field was met by Diouf only for the Senegal star to see his ambitious long range header just float wide of the post.

As the game ticked on Ivan Campo fired an effort over into the fans behind the goal whilst Anelka forced a stunning save out of Isaksson with a shot on the turn which was palmed away by the Swede.

City themselves also struck the foot of the same post which Anelka had grased in the first half when young midfielder Michael Johnson had been set up by the lively Vassell.

Vassell swayed the game in City's favour with fourteen minutes left on the clock. Bolton had left themselves wide open down the right flank and Petrov cut the ball back for the pacy front man to fire home his first goal since returning to the starting eleven.

At the death Jaaskelainen's legs denied substitute Javier Garrido but fellow sub Kelvin Etuhu took advantage of a high Bolton defensive line to hit the fourth and final City goal.

It was a good performance from both sides but the managers will not be happy at the manner in which some of the goals came about so Wanderers must now pick themselves back up for an important home game against Birmingham City next weekend.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt (Gavin McCann), Lubomir Michalik, Abdoulaye Meite, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Danny Guthrie, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS NOT USED: Jlloyd Samuel, Gary Speed, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

MANCHESTER CITY: Andreas Isaksson, Vedran Corluka, Micah Richards, Richard Dunne, Michael Ball, Gelson Fernandes (Kelvin Etuhu), Michael Johnson, Didi Hamann, Martin Petrov (Javier Garrido), Rolando Bianchi (Emile Mpenza), Darius Vassell

SUBS NOT USED: Geovanni, Joe Hart (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

40,506

REFEREE:

Peter Walton

BOOKED:

Nolan (Bolton)

Etuhu (City)

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