Ronaldo had put United two goals to the good within the first twenty minutes to beat George Best's goalscoring record of 32 goals from a midfielder in a season but Bolton made life difficult for their near neighbours on occasion.

The injured Jussi Jaaskelainen, Gary Cahill and Kevin Nolan where all absent for the visitors so Ali Al-Habsi kept his place in goal and Abdoulaye Meite and Gavin McCann came into the side which lost to Wigan at the weekend.

United left Wayne Rooney on the substitutes bench and keeper Tomasz Kuszczak was prefered over Ben Foster in goal despite the latter putting in a good performance against Derby on Saturday.

It was a much improved Wanderers performance throughout against the current Champions and the second half display will certainly give the side something to build on as they look towards survival in the last eight matches.

Bolton where under pressure in the early stages of the game and on eight minutes a defensive lapse from Meite allowed Carlos Tevez to take advantage only for Ricardo Gardner to cover well and hit the ball out for a corner.

From the resulting set piece United took the lead, Tevez whipped in the corner and Ronaldo was there from twelve yards out to put his side in front.

Some good interplay down the right between El-Hadji Diouf and the excellent Danny Guthrie culminated in Guthrie centering a superb ball which the onrushing Kevin Davies fired straight at Kuszczak for Bolton's first clear chance.

The miss proved somewhat costly as on 19 minutes Ronaldo doubled United's advantage. Meite gave away a needless free kick on the edge of the area and Ronaldo stepped up to tuck home a delightful free kick within Ali Al-Habsi's left hand post.

Despite their lowly position the Wanderers kept going and they wheren't afraid to get at the Red Devils but Matthew Taylor's effort from a Kevin Davies knock down and Gretar Steinsson's aimless shot didn't sufficiently trouble Kuszczak.

Louis Saha and strike partner Tevez both had chances to make it three midway through the first half but a timely interception from Gardner and a bread and butter save from Al-Habsi kept Bolton in the game.

United had got the two goal advantage but the Wanderers did well in the first half and played much better than the Wigan debacle on Sunday.

The second half started with Al-Habsi's goal being tested by United's Nani after Wanderers makeshift centre half Steinsson had felled Tevez.

Steinsson moved infield to accomodate Nicky Hunt who had come into the fray in place of the disappointing Meite and this change seemed to perk Bolton up.

Firstly Davies fired straight at Kuszczak and then El-Hadji Diouf had a goal ruled out when referee Alan Wiley ordered him to re-take his free kick on account that the initial strike was taken too early.

Substitute Hunt also ventured forward to test Kuszczak with a powerful volley from distance but the former West Brom keeper tipped the ball away to safety.

Midfielder Gavin McCann was next up to test the United goal but Kuszczak did well with a low save to deny the Bolton midfielder his second goal of the month.

Stand in goalkeeper Al-Habsi did well for Wanderers at the other end to deny Ronaldo the hattrick whilst Saha fired over for what was his last participation in the game.

Saha and Anderson made way for Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes on 71 minutes as Sir Alex Ferguson's side looked to kill the game off with a third goal but there was still a chance that Bolton could pull a goal back.

Nani had two late chances for United, one fired over and one saved by Al-Habsi and Bolton had the ball in the net again through Giannakopoulos at the other end only for Wiley to spot an infringement once more.

Next up for Bolton is successive home games against Manchester City and Arsenal whilst United play Liverpool in a crunch game at the weekend.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Ali Al-Habsi, Gretar Steinsson, Andy O'Brien, Abdoulaye Meite (Nicky Hunt), Ricardo Gardner, Danny Guthrie (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Gavin McCann, Joey O'Brien, El-Hadji Diouf, Kevin Davies, Matthew Taylor

SUBS NOT USED: Ivan Campo, Grzegorz Rasiak, Ian Walker (GK)

MANCHESTER UNITED: Tomasz Kuszczak, Owen Hargreaves, Gerard Pique, Nemanja Vidic (Wes Brown), John O'Shea, Cristiano Ronaldo, Darren Fletcher, Anderson (Paul Scholes), Nani, Carlos Tevez, Louis Saha (Wayne Rooney)

SUBS NOT USED: Patrice Evra, Ben Foster (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

76,476

REFEREE:

Alan Wiley

BOOKED:

A.O'Brien (Bolton)

Steinsson (Bolton)

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