Ten-man Bolton stunned Blackburn by taking the lead then scoring a late winner in the 2-1 win over their Lancashire neighbours at the Reebok Stadium. For Bolton this was their first home win over Rovers since 2000 and it came about in the most dramatic fashion.
A dreary first half had ended scoreless and as Bolton began the second period looking good they seemed to have ruined their chance of three points when Mark Davies was sent off for an elbow on Phil Jones.
But this just galvanised the Wanderers who took the lead through substitute Fabrice Muamba shortly after the dismissal.
Rovers piled forward trying to make the extra man count and on 87 minutes seemed to have rescued a point with a Mame Biram Diouf strike.
But Stuart Holden responded almost immediately to seal the win and send Bolton up to fifth in the Premiership.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Venue: Reebok Stadium Attendance: 24,471
Bolton scorers: Muamba 65, Holden 88 Blackburn scorers: Diouf 87
BOLTON WANDERERS 22 Jaaskelainen 04 Robinson 05 Cahill (yellow card) 12 Knight (yellow card) 18 Ricketts (yellow card) 08 Holden 10 Petrov (Taylor 77) 16 Davies (red card) 27 Lee (Muamba 58) 09 Elmander 14 Davies
Substitutes 01 Bogdan, 02 Steinsson, 06 Muamba, 07 Taylor, 17 Klasnic, 19 Moreno, 20 Blake
BLACKBURN ROVERS 01 Robinson 03 Olsson (yellow card) (Diouf 61) 04 Samba 05 Givet 06 Nelsen (yellow card) 27 Salgado (Dunn 72) 28 Jones (yellow card) 07 Emerton 12 Pedersen 10 Diouf (Hoilett 77) 30 Roberts
Substitutes 13 Bunn, 31 Hanley, 08 Dunn, 09 Kalinic, 21 Mwaruwari, 23 Hoilett, 41 Diouf
