Everton’s season continued to unravel courtesy of a medical miracle at the Reebok Stadium, where Ivan Klasnic plundered a winning goal with four minutes remaining. He secured Bolton Wanderers’ first home victory of the season in the Barclays Premier League and ensured that Gary Megson could celebrate his second anniversary as manager in style.

The result helped the home team to leapfrog Everton and go twelfth in the table on goal difference, but the real story centred around Klasnic.

The Croatia forward, who joined on loan from Nantes, has defied doctors to continue playing despite having two kidney transplants from his parents. Having replaced Ricardo Gardner with the scores locked at 2-2, Klasnic was knocked cold after a challenge by Lucas Neill, the Everton defender. He picked himself up, dusted himself down and was in the right place to bury a low shot past Tim Howard, the Everton goalkeeper, in the 86th minute. It was the 29-year-old’s first goal for Bolton.

It was a fitting end to an entertaining contest. Goals from Lee Chung Yong and Gary Cahill had put the home side in control, only for David Moyes’s side to restore parity through Louis Saha and Marouane Fellaini.

Megson said: “I think the blow [Klasnic] got looked worse than it was. The referee called for the doctor at first, but he was fine afterwards.”

Of Klasnic’s kidney problems, Megson added: “I don’t think there’s anyone else playing who has been through what he has. He never mentions it, just gets on with things and wants to be treated like everyone else. If you didn’t know about it, you’d never realise.”

Moyes faced horrendous injury problems, with up to ten regulars sidelined. He made three changes after the chastening defeat by Benfica in midweek, recalling Johnny Heitinga and Saha as well as handing a league debut to Neill. Everton still looked strong on paper, yet the inexperience on the bench highlighted the alarming issues facing Moyes. These got significantly worse within 16 minutes, when Bolton’s bright start was rewarded with a goal. Sam Ricketts was the creator, charging down the right flank before pulling back a neat cross that evaded Ricardo Gardner but fell perfectly for Lee, who fired his shot beyond the helpless Howard.

It was no more than Bolton deserved. Tamir Cohen and Kevin Davies had come close to breaking the deadlock with headers before Lee’s second goal of the season, while Everton’s mood was best personified by Saha, who miskicked with the goal at his mercy. Jô, the Everton forward on loan from Manchester City, landed an attempted centre on to the crossbar in the 23rd minute, but Megson’s team looked comfortable while Everton appeared lacklustre.

Moyes took out his frustration on the fourth official, earning him a ticking-off from Phil Dowd, the referee. The Scot’s mood darkened moments later when Bolton doubled their advantage with ease. Gary Cahill jumped above the heavy-legged Sylvain Distin to register his third goal of the season.

Just as Everton appeared to be sinking, however, Saha provided them with a spark by drilling a stunning effort past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal. Fellaini equalised ten minutes into the second half only for Klasnic to pounce near the end.

Everton have gone four games without a victory to slip down to fourteenth in the table, and a deflated Moyes said: “It looked as if we’d got back into the game and I thought we deserved to.

“We did enough to get level again and looked like going on to win the game but we ran out of steam. But we can’t use this as an excuse because we shouldn’t have found ourselves two goals down in the first place.”

Bolton Wanderers (4-5-1): J Jaaskelainen 7 - S Ricketts 7, Z Knight 7, G Cahill 8, J Samuel 7 - Lee Chung Yong 6, (sub C Basham, 88min), F Muamba 7, T Cohen 6, R Gardner 6 (sub: I Klasnic 7, 64min), M Taylor 6 - K Davies 7. Substitutes not used: A al-Habsi, G Steinsson, M Davies, A O’Brien, P Robinson. Booked: Cahill, Davies.

Everton (4-4-2): T Howard 7 - L Neill 7, S Distin 5, J Heitinga 6 (sub: S Coleman, 80min), A Hibbert 6 - D Gosling 6, J Rodwell 7, M Fellaini 7, T Cahill 6 - Jô 6, L Saha 7. Substitutes not used: C Nash, S Duffy, K Agard, J Baxter, J Wallace, H Akpan.

Referee: P Dowd Attendance: 21,547