AMID their celebrations at the final whistle yesterday, every Bolton outfield player made a point of congratulating Jussi Jaaskelainen, and with good cause. The experienced goalkeeper was outstanding in the second half, pulling off two double saves of the highest quality to give his team a second consecutive win and lift them into the top half of the Premier League table.

“He’ll get the headlines, and quite rightly so. It was as good a performance as you’re going to see,” said Bolton manager Gary Megson, not a man to praise his own players without justification.

It has been 15 years since these sides last met in the league, a match in which one Phil Brown played for Bolton. Yesterday Brown the manager reverted to the formula which has brought Hull so much success, skipper Ian Ashbee returning to form a three-man midfield with George Boateng and Dean Marney, and Geovanni in the hole behind forwards Marlon King and Daniel Cousin, but it took at least an hour to find their rhythm.

They had their moments in the first half. Geovanni, roaming freely, cut in from the right to hit a left-foot shot which, while straight at Jaaskelainen, bounced sufficiently awkwardly for the goalkeeper to be relieved he had got his body behind the ball, and soon afterwards the the same man popped up on the left to swing in a cross. King, in mid-air, flicked the ball off the side and onto the bar. It was a brilliant attempt.

Hull continued to have the upper hand. Cousin’s header from Boateng’s cross drifted just wide and a series of corners proved unproductive as Bolton negated the aerial strength of Michael Turner with tight marking. Bolton’s best effort off the first period came when Ricardo Gardner seized on a moment of indecision from Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill to pull the ball back across an empty goalmouth.

Surprising then that Bolton opened the scoring. Gavin McCann’s corner was headed away by Ashbee, but sat up for Matthew Taylor to poke, rather than hit, a left-foot volley through a crowd of players and inside Myhill’s right-hand post.

Immediately, Brown took off Cousin, and Bernard Mendy’s presence on the right seemed to give his team more options going forward. Geovanni’s curling free kick demanded a good diving save from Jaaskelainen, but it was straightforward compared to the double block the Finn pulled off a minute later. Marney’s free kick was perfectly placed for Geovanni to meet on the six-yard line, but with only Jaaskelainen to beat, the Brazilian directed his header just close enough to the goalkeeper for him to throw out a leg and block. Even then the ball was turned back across goal by Turner, but as Geovanni flailed from the floor, Jaaskelainen saved again.

The sense that this was not going to be Hull’s day was growing by the minute. Ebi Smolarek, on for Johan Elmander, followed an impressive run with a shot just over the bar for Bolton, and Jaaskelainen again had to be alert to save Geovanni’s swerving right-footer from a narrow angle.

Yet remarkably, Jasskelainen’s best was still to come. King, given room in the penalty area, turned and fired in a fierce shot which took a deflection off Jlloyd Samuel. The goalkeeper, though wrong-footed, stuck out his right hand to block, then recovered sufficiently quickly to fling himself forward and push the ball off Geovanni’s toe.

Having also been man of the match in the previous week’s win over Manchester City, his 400th game for Bolton, Jaaskelainen is very much a man in form. “He’s had a blinder, hasn’t he?” said Brown. “He’s been there ten or 11 years, and I remember a few performances like that.”

But Brown waved away suggestions that after three successive defeats Hull’s bubble might have burst. “The first two games, against Chelsea and Manchester United, we didn’t expect to get anything from. This game we did, and we did enough to deserve not just a point but all three, but we ran out of luck.” And into Jaaskelainen.

Star man: Jussi Jaaskelainen (Bolton)

Yellow cards: Hull:Dawson Bolton: Muamba, Gardner

Referee: A Wiley

Attendance: 24,903

HULL: Myhill 6, McShane 6, Turner 6, Zayatte 6, Dawson 5 (Ricketts 64min), Ashbee 5, Boateng 7 (Folan 73min), Marney 6, Geovanni 6, King 6, Cousin 5 (Mendy 54min, 5)

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen 9, Steinsson 6, Cahill 7, O’Brien 6, Samuel 6, Taylor 6, McCann 7, Muamba 7, Gardner 6, Davies 6, Elmander 5 (Smolarek 76min)