Wanderers manager Gary Megson made three changes from the side which lost to Everton on Boxing Day with Joey O'Brien, Jlloyd Samuel and ex-Sunderland man Gavin McCann coming into the starting line up in place of Nicky Hunt, Ivan Campo and Danny Guthrie.

Hosts Sunderland also made changes to their team with Black Cats boss Roy Keane resisting the temptation to give teenage Academy starlet Martin Waghorn another run out.

Instead the veteran former Manchester United, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers forward Andrew Cole was recalled by Keane as part of a three man attack which also included Kenwyne Jones and Michael Chopra.

Bolton made an early foray into the Sunderland penalty area on nine minutes when central defender Andy O'Brien had stayed up to support the attack, but the cross from the Republic of Ireland star was cleared by Danny Collins before it could reach Kevin Davies in the area.

A minute later Sunderland went close at the other end when Kieran Richardson delivered a good ball into the danger zone only for midfielder Dickson Etuhu to make a hash of the final shot on goal.

Richardson scored the opening goal of the contest on thirteen minutes and his first for the Black Cats when firing the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal after team mate Kenwyne Jones had made a good run in the build up play.

The goal came at a cost for the England midfielder as he was booked by referee Phil Dowd for his celebration but that didn't stop Sunderland from having another go at Jaaskelainen's goal, this time with the Finnish custodian tipping away a long range free kick by Chopra.

A stoppage in play due to a clash of heads between Kevin Nolan and Etuhu held the game up for a short spell and on his return Nolan was sporting a similar head bandage to that of his team mate McCann, who also recently picked up a head injury.

On the half hour mark Bolton had their longest serving player Jaaskelainen to thank again following Liam Miller's free kick which was tipped over by the in-demand stopper.

The resulting corner however, lead to Sunderland's second goal with Richardson delivering a good ball onto the head of the leaping giant striker Jones who made no mistake with a header.

Sunderland had a succession of free kicks but neither Miller or Richardson could force Jaaskelainen's metal again in the first half and it was in fact Bolton who finished the half strongly.

Wanderers had been awarded a free kick which El-Hadji Diouf stepped up to take and the Senegalese forward fired in a shot towards Craig Gordon's goal which whistled into the back of the net to reduce the arrears.

Diouf has started to score a few more since the new management have taken over and this was his second goal in four games and his fourth for the season overall.

Ricardo Gardner then fired off target for the visitors who where looking to continue the momentum but for the sound of the whistle from referee Dowd for half time put paid to a quick fire second goal.

Moments after the restart Richardson went almighty close for Sunderland when looking for his second goal of the content but Jaaskelainen was there in view of the ball to produce a save of quality and prevent the Wearsiders from going further ahead.

.This new warning stoked Bolton into action and some good approach work by Diouf on 49 minutes was not matched with as good an end product from Nicolas Anelka who hit the ball straight at home goalkeeper Gordon.

Eight minutes after this, Jones broke goalside of the Bolton defence thanks largely to the efforts of Dean Whitehead but the Trinidad star could only put the ball over the top.

Substitute Danny Guthrie was brought on by Bolton in an attempt to turn the game level and he nearly made a required  impact on the hour when setting up Anelka only for the French superstar to be denied by defender Paul McShane who made a good block.

Diouf fired the resulting loose ball over but it was evident that the Lancashire side where not done in this game by any means and experienced campaigners like Stelios Giannakopoulos and Ivan Campo came on to try and influence the game in its final quarter.

Bolton pressed and forced Sunderland to defend deep but a McCann free kick and some last ditch tackling from the young Grant Leadbitter meant the scores stayed the same until right at the death.

It had looked as if the Wanderers would claim a draw for their efforts but their attacking line had moved too far upfield and this allowed Sunderland to take advantage with the matchwinner on 90 minutes.

Jones flicked the ball on into the path of Daryl Murphy and he held off the challenge before sticking the ball past Jaaskelainen and leaving Bolton still without an away win.

2007 ends just as it began, with a defeat by three goals away from home. A lot of changes have taken place at Bolton this year with our current plight being a source of concern.

2008 is sure to be another action packed year and we have a lot of important games coming up starting with a hat trick of home fixtures against Derby County, Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Joey O'Brien, Andy O'Brien, Abdoulaye Meite, Jlloyd Samuel, Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS NOT USED: Lubomir Michalik, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

SUNDERLAND: Craig Gordon, Liam Miller, Danny Collins, Paul McShane, Danny Higginbotham, Dean Whitehead, Kieran Richardson (Roy O'Donovan), Dickson Etuhu, Michael Chopra (Grant Leadbitter), Andrew Cole (Daryl Murphy), Kenwyne Jones

SUBS NOT USED: Martin Waghorn, Darren Ward (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

42,058

REFEREE:

Phil Dowd

BOOKED:

Richardson (Sunderland)

Davies (Bolton)

Diouf (Bolton)

McShane (Sunderland)

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