Jenas strikes as Magpies close the gap on Red Devils
But they were made to fight all the way by Sam Allardyce's relegation-haunted side, who turned the tables after the break to put Shay Given's goal under intense pressure. United looked to be coasting as they created chance after chance in the opening 45 minutes with Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy particularly lively and only Gudni Bergsson standing between the Magpies and a comfortable lead.
But after the turnaround, it was the home side who looked disjointed and short of ideas, and it was a tense last few minutes as they were forced to defend their lead like tigers.
Manager Sir Bobby Robson has insisted all along that his side will not win the title, and on the evidence of their second-half display, he is absolutely right.
However, three points is three points, and although the manner of their collection may have left something to be desired, that was the task they were handed before they ran out.
Robson sent his troops into battle under orders to be ruthless and banish any notion of complacency, and although they held sway for much of the opening period, the one-goal margin they held at the break was scant reward for their efforts.
Dyer set the tone with just 23 seconds gone some 12.5 seconds later than skipper Alan Shearer had done against Manchester City on Saturday by warming keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen's hands with a well-struck drive.
And although Bolton, in the shape of strikers Youri Djorkaeff and Henrik Pedersen, represented a threat on the break, that was largely the pattern of the opening period as Dyer, Craig Bellamy, Nolberto Solano, Laurent Robert and Jenas ran the Wanderers defence ragged.
That they did not concede further was testament to the efforts of skipper Bergsson, who made a series of last-ditch interventions to keep United at bay, and Jaaskelainen.
The Finn had to get down well to keep out Bellamy's skidding fourth-minute drive and then watched a sizzling Robert effort sail past his right post.
But there was little he could do with 18 minutes gone when, after Bellamy had collected Steve Caldwell's long ball out of defence and teased Bruno N'Gotty into giving him half a yard, he laid a pass into Jenas' run for the teenager to smash home from close range.
Bergsson did just enough to keep Bellamy out on 27 minutes and then denied Dyer three minutes before the break, but even he could only look on as the Welshman broke free down the right on 44 minutes and sent over a cross with which Shearer only just failed to connect. For their part, Bolton, who fielded a makeshift central midfield partnership of Ricardo Gardner and substitute Ivan Campo after Per Frandsen limped off with just 10 minutes gone, created few real alarms at the other end.
Given had to save a third-minute Kevin Nolan header at the foot of his right post and Djorkaeff hammered a free-kick high over, but Gardner wasted perhaps the best chance when he shot wide after being put in by Pedersen with 11 minutes gone. But it was a different story after the break as the visitors turned the table on a distinctly lethargic Newcastle, with Campo making the most of the space in the middle of the field to drive his side forward. Bernard Mendy whistled a left-foot shot just wide with 49 minutes gone and Pedersen almost got away from Caldwell and Nikos Dabizas deep inside the box a minute later. Mendy was well off target with a long-range effort on 53 minutes, but the ease with which he cut through the United midfield was a warning of what was to come. The Frenchman should have levelled with 69 minutes gone when Caldwell forced a fine save from his own keeper after getting his head to Simon Charlton's cross, but the midfielder blasted into the side-netting.
Caldwell then deflected a shot from substitute Michael Ricketts towards goal and called Given into action again, and Bergsson headed wide from the resulting corner.
Newcastle had been forced to take a back seat for much of the half, but they had two good chances of their own, Shearer heading against the bar from Solano's 62nd-minute cross and Dyer shooting into the side-netting after being put in by Bellamy four minutes later.
And in the dying stages, Jaaskelainen saved superbly from a Robert free-kick and saw N'Gotty deflect another effort from the Frenchman over as time ran out for the visitors.
NEWCASTLE: Given, Hughes, Caldwell, Dabizas, Bernard, Solano, Dyer, Jenas, Robert, Bellamy, Shearer.
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Mendy, N'Gotty, Bergsson, Barness, Charlton, Nolan, Frandsen, Gardner, Djorkaeff, Pedersen.
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