"They always looked like getting a goal and we did, too. Our equaliser came from a seven-man move and from that moment I thought we were going to win the game.

"But we shot ourselves in the foot with some sloppy defending. On the night 3-3 might have been right. It was quite a spectacle for the fans."

Anyone deterred from journeying to Whitley Park on Monday evening by the Metro strike may have missed five goals, but also avoided a listless performance by the United second string.

The 466 spectators had little to cheer in the opening stages, as both sides struggled to pass the ball on a difficult surface showing serious signs of wear.

Back from a loan spell at Nottingham Forest, Michael Chopra tested visiting 'keeper Donovan Ricketts twice in the 12th minute and shot narrowly over his crossbar just after the half hour.

However, there was little else of note until three minutes before the break, when Hugo Viana began and almost ended the move that led to the opening goal, bringing the ball over halfway and releasing Bowyer down the right.

The Portuguese midfielder eventually regained possession in a central area 20 yards from goal and tried a shot that the Bolton 'keeper looked to have covered.

However Ricketts reckoned without a wicked deflection courtesy of the unwitting Charlie Comyn-Platt, which drastically changed the flight of the ball and crucially wrong-footed the 'keeper. 1-0.

The Trotters replied just before the hour, when Guatemalan striker Dwight Pezzarossi looped his header from an O'Brien cross over Caig and into the net for 1-1.

And within three minutes Bolton had the lead when Jermaine Johnson advanced to the edge of the United box unchallenged and cannoned a dipping shot off the crossbar.

With Caig floundering helplessly as the ball dropped and bounced in the six yard box, Pezzarossi was the first to react and bundle the ball home from close range 1-2.

United tried to get back on level terms, but only substitute Martin Brittain's movement down the right looked likely to produce anything.

And Brittain played his part on 77 minutes when he combined with Taylor and Bowyer to get the ball to Lewis Guy, who squared it from the byline for Michael Chopra to rifle home 2-2.

Barely sixty seconds had elapsed though when Bolton struck again, when Newcastle's defence went awol and Portuguese forward Ricardo Vaz Te followed up to net, after Pezzarossi's shot had been blocked to deny him a hat trick 2-3.

The home side never looked like preventing lowly Wanderers from registering a rare win thereafter and the visitors almost went further ahead on 85 minutes when Johnson's 25 yard effort flashed past Caig but glanced off his left-hand post.

So, revenge for ex-mag turned reserve coach Neil McDonald, who had seen Bolton beaten in Lancashire by his former club earlier in the season by the same score.

And while Newcastle could justifiably claim that the poor pitch disrupted their passing game tonight, Bolton made a rather better fist of hassling our defence than we were able to manage.

PS A word for Bolton's on-trial Georgian Kinkladze - anonymous.