Latics striker Henri Camara was to be the biggest threat to the visitors defence as he constantly kept the likes of Bruno N'Gotty and Radhi Jaidi on their toes for most of the contest.

Camara struck the opener shortly after half time and this was followed ten minutes later by a second from Scottish international Lee McCulloch, his first in Premiership football.

It was fair to suggest that Wigan deserved the points overall as they attacked a somewhat jaded Wanderers right from the first whistle and the atmosphere inside the JJB showed that none of the passion of yesteryear had gone out of this local fixture even though it is over a decade after the last meeting.

As early as the second minute Paul Jewell's side went on the offensive as Senegal star Camara and fellow strike partner McCulloch showed their intentions early doors.

The game threatened to boil over a little bit when Bolton's Kevin Davies caught Athletic's French full back Pascal Chimbonda in an incident which later resulted in the former Bastia player leaving the action.

On 18 minutes Wanderers midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata fired his free kick from the edge of the box wide of the Wigan goalmouth, but the main concerns in front of goal where overshadowed by the obvious problems which had developed in the Wanderers defence.

Camara and Jason Roberts both looked dangerous each time Wigan went on the break and they were constantly looking for flaws in a Wanderers back line which was the more weary due to their involvement in Thursday's UEFA Cup tie over Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

One time West Bromwich Albion forward Roberts showed a prime case in point as his 21st minute half volley was to flash just wide of Jussi Jaaskelainen's goalmouth.

Soon after goalscoring midfielder Damien Francis tried to beat Jaaskelainen from long range but the big Finn felt comfortable enough to collect the shot with relative ease.

Away side Bolton resisted some strong first half Wigan pressure and eventually started to play much better in the final quarter of an hour of the opening period.

Bolton were to create more chances for themselves in the last ten minutes of the first half as both Jay-Jay Okocha and Kevin Nolan got efforts in on John Filan's goal. For Nolan in particular it would have been a his third goal in as many matches.

Moments earlier the determined Nolan had tried to repeat an acrobatic overhead effort which he scored against Portsmouth during the Wanderers win at the Reebok Stadium last weekend, but this time he wasn't so lucky in his efforts as referee Alan Wiley blew up for dangerous play.

A couple of minutes before the break Wigan striker McCulloch found himself with a site of goal but luckily for the Wanderers Tal Ben-Haim was on hand to snuff out any danger.

The second half was barely a minute old as the home side showed similar attacking insticts to early in the first half by going straight en route to Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal.

Wigan's Jimmy Bullard was first up as he broke at speed to pick out Francis, however the former Norwich and Wimbledon man was to screw his shot wide of the Bolton goal.

Bullard was to provide the assist for the Wigan forward line once again as Henri Camara put the home side into the lead on 48 minutes. A cross into the box was poorly cleared by the Wanderers defender Bruno N'Gotty leaving man-of-the-match Camara the task of putting the ball into the net

Things went from bad to worse for Bolton as they then where to lose their captain Jay-Jay Okocha with a groin problem and he was replaced by Stelios Giannakopoulos

The substitutions didn't stop there for Sam Allardyce as he introduced the much-heckled El-Hadji Diouf in place of Ricardo Gardner. Pre-match many were interested to see how Diouf and Wigan defender Arjan De Zeeuw would pan out given their recent history but as it went the Senegal star ended up being marked by Wigan full back Ryan Taylor.

On the hour Bolton had a perfect chance to equalise but Kevin Nolan's sharp volley was blocked by his own team mate Giannakopoulos, with Davies later seeing his follow up cleared off the line by Latics substitute Taylor

On 63 minutes Wigan scored what proved to be the vital winning goal as McCulloch volleyed in an excellent low shot past Jaaskelainen after Camara had broken at speed to unnerve the Wanderers defence.

Camara nearly turned provider once again as he tried to feed in Roberts for a headed opportunity which drifted wide, but in the same breath Bolton got themselves back into the game thanks to a powerful header from Radhi Jaidi

The Tunisian centre half rose well to head home past Wigan keeper Filan after the defence failed to clear a right wing cross from the Wanderers Greek substitute Stelios Giannakopoulos.

Diouf set up Nakata with thirteen minutes left on the clock but the Japanese star could not find a Bolton equaliser and was later withdrawn as Sam Allardyce added his final substitute Jared Borgetti to the forward line.

The defeat for Wanderers means that they missed out on gaining second place behind Chelsea, and now must face the Blues in just under two weeks time at Stamford Bridge

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Tal Ben-Haim, Radhi Jaidi, Bruno N'Gotty, Henrik Pedersen, Kevin Nolan, Jay-Jay Okocha (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Gary Speed, Hidetoshi Nakata (Jared Borgetti), Kevin Davies, Ricardo Gardner (El-Hadji Diouf)

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Adboulaye Diagne-Faye

Wigan Athletic: John Filan, Pascal Chimbonda (Ryan Taylor), Stephane Henchoz, Arjan De Zeeuw, Leighton Baines, Damien Francis, Jimmy Bullard, Graham Kavanagh, Lee McCulloch, Jason Roberts, Henri Camara (David Connolly).

Subs Not Used: Mike Pollitt, Steve McMillan, Matt Jackson,

Referee:

Alan Wiley

Attendance:

20,553

Booked:

Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton)

Bruno N'Gotty (Bolton)

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

Bolton Wanderers Poll