Referee Rob Styles pointed to the spot on two seperate occasions in the second half and Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy showed what a value for money buy he has become by converting both chances past Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

A Wanderers fightback didn't seem likely until Bolton record signing Nicolas Anelka fired home his tenth goal of the season with three minutes left on the clock but the real talking point came when defender Adboulaye Faye looped a header over Brad Freidal in injury time for what looked to be a last gasp equaliser for the hosts.

The officials ruled the goal out due to a marginal offside at the start of the move leaving Bolton now without a win in the last three games and set for a trip to league leaders Manchester United next up on Saturday week.

Rovers winger Morten Gamst Pedersen had the first meaningful effort of the game just two minutes in, but his powerful free kick went high and over into the family stand.

His midfield team mate David Dunn was roundly booed by the home support throughout the course of the first half after choosing to sign for Blackburn over Bolton in the January transfer window.

Both sides struggled to create chances in the opening period and Bolton took a quarter of an hour to force Rovers keeper Brad Friedel into making any kind of save and even then an El-Hadji Diouf effort was comfortably gathered by the American custodian.

The same could be said at the other end though but Wanderers where let off the hook on 24 minutes when David Bentley balooned the ball over the crossbar after being put through in acres of space by Matt Derbyshire.

Bolton's Nicolas Anelka fired a snapshot wide of the Blackburn goal but the best chance of the half fell the way of Trotters skipper Kevin Nolan who miscued his angled header following a delightful right wing cross by full back Nicky Hunt.

Wanderers continued to press shortly before the break as Ivan Campo then lashed the ball over the top on the volley after Rovers skipper Ryan Nelsen had headed away the initial danger.

After the interval it was Rovers who came out of the blocks full of intent and midfielder Dunn nearly scored a cheeky goal after hitting Jaaaskelainen's mishit clearance back to the Bolton goal. Fortunately for Wanderers the former Birmingham City midfielder's shot went just the wrong side of the left hand post but it was a let off.

On 58 minutes Bolton's Gary Speed chased the lively David Bentley down in his own penalty area and sent in a challenge which saw the one time Arsenal youngster go to ground.

Referee Styles awarded the penalty to Rovers and South African international Benni McCarthy made no mistake in netting what proved to be the first of two for the afternoon..

Bolton responded almost immediately as makeshift full back Henrik Pedersen saw a rasping goalbound volley cleared off the line by David Dunn. The crowd by this point where warming up and the game was looking more like the local derby which it was first billed

Rovers furthered their lead with just over twenty minutes remaining, Styles again awarding the penalty and McCarthy once again converting, this time the culprit was Abdoulaye Faye who challeged the forward from behind with a mistimed tackle.

This goal spurred Bolton into action as they introduced both Ricardo Vaz-Te and Andranik Teimourian into the play. Vaz-Te almost made an immediate impact but his shot when cutting in from the right was fired high and wide into the crowd.

Blackburn themselves made changes as the game neared its conclusion and of those changes Jason Roberts could have wrapped the game up when his pace took him away from Tal Ben-Haim and Henrik Pedersen. The ex-Wigan man was denied at the final moment by the onrushing Jaaskelainen who saved bravely at his feet to divert the ball to safety.

Nicolas Anelka reduced the arrears for Bolton with a well taken goal put across Freidal and up went Jaaskelainen for a couple of corners in the dying moments, his presence almost paid dividens as Faye looped a header over Rovers keeper Freidal and into the net but any celebrations where short lived due to offside.

Bolton have a week off due to the FA Cup next weekend but their next game is a trip to Old Trafford to take on the Premiership's league leaders Manchester United.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Faye, Tal Ben-Haim, Henrik Pedersen, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Gary Speed (Andranik Teimourian), Stelios Giannakopoulos (Ricardo Vaz-Te), Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

Subs Not Used: Ricardo Gardner, Idan Tal, Ian Walker (GK)

Blackburn Rovers: Brad Friedal, Brett Emerton, Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Stephen Warnock, David Bentley (Paul Gallagher), David Dunn, Aaron Mokoena, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Benni McCarthy, Matt Derbyshire (Jason Roberts)

Subs Not Used: Zurab Khizinashvili, Tugay, Jason Brown (GK)

Referee:

Rob Styles

Attendance:

21,743

Booked:

Tal Ben-Haim (Bolton)

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