ON THE WAY to the game the Birmingham kit van got stuck in heavy traffic, which meant they hadn’t got enough away jerseys, so they took the field sporting their familiar blue and white tops with red shorts and red socks. But having gifted the three points to Bolton with three defensive errors in the last 20 minutes, crimson all over was their colour as they left the field, such was their embarrassment.

Perhaps Alex McLeish will now regret having told us how his Scotland side had snuffed out Nicolas Anelka in their famous victory over France back in September. His players had marked the space rather than the player, McLeish revealed, but yesterday his Birmingham side looked like they were merely chasing shadows as the Frenchman set up one goal and scored twice to bring his tally of League goals this season to 10 and pass 100 in English football.

For both his strikes he showed that rare gift of combining speed with composure that has marked him out as arguably the most dangerous striker in the Premier League. With Didier Drogba out of the picture, Chelsea are reported to be preparing a bid for him in the January transfer window and Avram Grant’s appetite will only have been whetted by what Anelka had to offer. “Christmas has come early for Bolton today,” said McLeish. “The last 20 minutes were pretty hard to take. We committed three errors and that is something that is difficult to legislate for.”

Fortress Reebok doesn’t have a convincing ring to it as yet, but Bolton are still unbeaten at home since Gary Megson took over from Sammy Lee in October. If the Bolton fans are grateful for that fact, they have yet to show their emotion, and it would be a kindness to put the rows of empty seats around the stadium down to Christmas shopping demands. The return of their centre-half Andy O’Brien was hardly likely to put bums on those seats either, but there has been a solidity about the Bolton defence since his arrival from Portsmouth and Megson’s team looked a far more assured outfit on O’Brien’s return.

Certainly, in the first half Bolton’s home record under Megson never looked under threat, but there wasn’t much action at the other end either. Birmingham slung five men across midfield and invited Bolton to break them down, which the home side never looked like doing despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession and being presented with a couple of chances courtesy of some poor defending.

Bolton’s best chance came after five minutes when El Hadji Diouf avoided Stephen Kelly’s challenge on the left side of the penalty area and sent in a cross that Rafael Schmitz failed to clear properly. Anelka pounced in the six-yard box and Maik Taylor did well to parry his shot.

On 26 minutes Kevin Nolan had a good chance on the edge of the six-yard box, but he spun and shot wide after Kevin Davies had created havoc in the Birmingham penalty area. Birmingham’s best chance of the half came 10 minutes later on the break when Fabrice Muamba played a clever ball out to the left wing to Damien Johnson. The Birmingham captain delivered a low cross that was cut out by an excellent sliding tackle from Ricardo Gardner as Cameron Jerome prepared to pounce.

Birmingham hadn’t kept a clean sheet going into this game in 11 matches. McLeish had clearly set his team out to keep Anelka quiet as a way of trying to halt that pattern. The manager had instructed his players to squeeze the Frenchman for space, but Radhi Jaidi took that instruction too far when he bundled Anelka over and was booked. Diouf’s free kick landed at the feet of Nolan, who scored, but the linesman had flagged in the mistaken belief that Davies had nodded on with his head. The Bolton captain protested furiously, and the replays showed he had plenty of justification.

Anelka wasn’t to stay shackled for too long and his influence was about to give the game its decisive turn, though some wretched Birmingham defending made his job all the easier. On 71 minutes he skipped to the byline and sent in a cross that Kelly should have cleared on the far post. Instead he swung wildly at air and the ball fell nicely at the feet of Diouf, who then pulled the ball round Kelly easily and slammed it in from close range past Taylor.

Six minutes later Birmingham gifted Bolton a second goal, when Johan Djourou’s throw-in back to his goalkeeper landed well short and Anelka skipped in, rounded Taylor and rolled the ball in from an acute angle. His second came after Jerome’s misplaced back pass from the centre circle landed at the feet of Nolan, who played the ball over the Birmingham defence into the path of the French striker.

Anelka sold Taylor a couple of dummies and then thumped the ball into the corner of the net. He smiled broadly in celebration. Certainly it was the last laugh for the man they once called the incredible sulk.

“It is a great result for us,” said Megson. “The game seemed a lot closer than that, especially in the first half, but you can’t complain about winning 3-0.”

Star man: Nicolas Anelka (Bolton)

Player ratings: Bolton: Jaaskelainen 7, Hunt 6, Meite 6, O’Brien 7, Gardner 7, Campo 6 (McCann 59min, 6), Nolan 8, Guthrie 6, Diouf 7, Davies 6 (Samuel 79min), Anelka 8

Birmingham: Taylor 6, Kelly 5, Schmitz 5, Jaidi 5, Sadler 6 (Kapo h-t, 6), Larsson 6, Johnson 5, Djourou 5, Muamba 5, McSheffrey 6 (O’Connor 74min), Jerome 5

Scorers: Bolton: Diouf 72, Anelka 78

Yellow cards: Bolton: Hunt, Gardner, Diouf

Birmingham: Jaidi, Johnson

Referee: C Foy

Attendance: 19,111