Bolton do it again - reports

Manchester United 0 Bolton 1

Kevin Nolan achieved mission impossible at Old Trafford tonight as Bolton repeated their heroics of 12 months ago.

Not good enough for England’s Under-21 side last week, Nolan grabbed Bolton’s first in their 2-1 win over Manchester United last year and topped that tonight by lashing home the winner as Sir Alex Ferguson’s multi-millionaires discovered that sinking home feeling once more.

Even Bolton boss Sam Allardyce doubted whether his team were capable of travelling to United and emerging with victory two years on the trot.

But just as last season, they fully deserved their success, repelling a Red Devils onslaught in the final 12 minutes after Nolan had driven a shot through a gaping hole in the United defence and past Fabien Barthez’s outstretched hand.

Ferguson had started the evening by insisting there was no rift between himself and Sven-Goran Eriksson. Much more of this and the rift will be with his team.

The United boss knows home games have to be won if his team are to become realistic challengers to Arsenal’s throne. But, without Roy Keane, the clubs looks bereft of drive in hard times.

Stand-in skipper David Beckham worked tirelessly trying to inspire greater efforts from his team but too many of his colleagues lacked the guile to finish off his approach work and even in the last powerful surge, there was to be no breakthrough

With Paul Scholes joining Keane on the long-term injury list, Ferguson had few selection worries and started with the expected side, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer restored to an orthodox striking role alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy.

After his prolific first season in English football, the former PSV man has struggled to hit top form this term and has yet to find the net in open play during United’s Premiership campaign so far.

He should have ended that barren run in some style shortly before the interval after Juan Veron found him with an astute pass inside the box.

Van Nistelrooy had the space he craves but smashed his shot against the underside of the crossbar. The Dutchman vainly claimed it had cannoned over the line but the assistant referee was perfectly placed to turn it down.

It was the best chance of a half where the home side huffed and puffed and the visitors, far from adopting the defensive approach Allardyce had suggested, broke forward whenever they could, which as it turned out, was quite often.

Although Rio Ferdinand was again looking a class act, Youri Djorkaeff has a World Cup winner’s medal in his cabinet. As Ferguson had previously mentioned, you don’t get one of those without being a decent player and the Frenchman duly tortured United, almost permanently finding space to prompt his team into action.

Ironically, the attack from which the visitors should have taken the lead came from the type of mistake Ferdinand’s arrival was supposed to eradicate.

Laurent Blanc was sold slightly short by Phil Neville’s back pass but the Frenchman still should have cleared, instead of allowing Michael Ricketts to nab possession and release Henrik Pedersen with an impish back heel.

Blanc chased back desperately trying to atone for his blunder but Pedersen still had room for the shot as he entered the area, only to see his side-footed effort palmed away by Barthez.

It wasn’t the end of Blanc’s errors as he allowed Djorkaeff to toe the ball away from him at the start of the second half.

Ricketts was onto his team-mate’s reverse pass in a flash but Butt, spotting the imminent danger, hauled him back, escaped without a booking and was further relieved to see Bolton make nothing of the corner.

United were turning in the kind of display usually shaken out of them by Roy Keane’s snarling captaincy. Beckham’s approach is somewhat different but he can usually be relied upon to make the most of any free-kick opportunities handed to him within shooting range.

Amazingly, Bolton gave him three chances to try his luck within a frustrating five minute spell for the visitors. The first was saved, the second went over, the third went wide, each time Beckham shaking his head in frustration.

The England skipper had another shot blocked before Ryan Giggs wasted a glorious chance to put United in front, failing to make decent connection with a 10-yard volley when Solskjaer perfectly laid off Butt’s long ball.

It proved to be a costly error for, barely a minute after Diego Forlan had been thrown on for Veron, Nolan put the visitors in front.

The strike owed much to persistence, from both Nolan and Gudni Bergsson, who made a nuisance of himself in the United area, that a weak home clearance fell straight into his team-mate’s path as he followed in his own deep throw.

There appeared to be some good fortune at work as Beckham slipped, leaving the gap which Nolan filled with his fizzing effort which gave Barthez no chance.

United piled forward in desperation. Blanc had an effort blocked, Forlan had a late shot saved. But an equaliser would have been an injustice.