Bolton Wanderers just love conceding penalties against Blackburn Rovers and, not for the first time, they paid a heavy price for it yesterday. For the third time in the past four meetings between these teams, Bolton gave away two spot-kicks, with Benni McCarthy once again the grateful recipient of a bizarre jinx.

Just as he had during Blackburn’s 2-1 victory at the Reebok Stadium in March last year, the South Africa striker converted both penalties to gain the upper hand in what has become an absorbing personal duel with Jussi Jaaskelainen and boost his team’s hopes of European qualification while deepening Bolton’s relegation worries.

Jaaskelainen had saved two penalties, one from McCarthy and another from Jason Roberts, in the space of three minutes during Bolton’s 1-0 victory at Ewood Park in October 2006, but the Finland goalkeeper enjoyed no such luck yesterday.

“Benni has faced him a few times before now, so I imagine there were a few mind games going on but thankfully he came out on top again,” Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, said.

While Gary Megson had no complaints about Blackburn’s second penalty, when Gary Cahill scythed through the back of David Dunn in the 67th minute, the Bolton manager had a “lorry load” of them over the first and with good reason.

Despite clearly winning the ball, Gretar Steinsson was adjudged by Mark Clattenburg, the referee, to have fouled Dunn in the 25th minute, but while Bolton staged a brief rally in the second period to draw level through Kevin Davies, Blackburn were worth their win, even if the scoreline did flatter them slightly in the end.

Davies controlled Matt Taylor’s long free kick, seeing off a challenge from Stephen Warnock and firing home to equalise after McCarthy’s first penalty.

Bolton cannot help shooting themselves in the foot against Blackburn, though, and when McCarthy scored his second penalty after Cahill’s inexplicable lunge, the game was as good as over. David Bentley added a third with a close-range header from the influential Dunn’s cross before Morten Gamst Pedersen claimed his first league goal in almost a year at the death.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): B Friedel 7 – B Emerton 6, C Samba 5, Z Khizanishvili 5, S Warnock 5 – D Bentley 7, S Reid 6, D Dunn 8 (sub: A Mokoena, 77min), M G Pedersen 6 – B McCarthy 7 (sub: J Roberts, 82), R Santa Cruz 6. Substitutes not used:J Brown, Tugay Kerimoglu, M Derbyshire. Booked:Reid, Dunn.

Next: Newcastle United (a)

Bolton Wanderers (4-1-4-1): J Jaaskelainen 6 – G Steinsson 6, G Cahill 5, A O’Brien 6, R Gardner 6 – I Campo 6 (sub: J O’Brien, 76) – E-H Diouf 7, K Nolan 7 (sub: T Cohen, 76), D Guthrie 5 (sub: G Rasiak, 46 6), M Taylor 6 – K Davies 7. Substitutes not used: A Al Habsi, A Meïté. Booked: Nolan, Guthrie, Campo, Diouf.

Next: Liverpool (h).

Referee M Clattenburg

Attendance 23,995