READING have now lost their past six Premier League games, while Bolton achieved their first away win of the season despite missing an early penalty. At Stamford Bridge last week, Reading came to life in the second half after their first-half torpor. Yesterday, after a brief spell at the beginning of the first half and another at the start of the second, they relapsed into dull mediocrity.

Gary Megson, Bolton’s manager, said that he was satisfied with the result: “We can play a lot better than that. Whether we can play a lot better under the circumstances we’re in now, I’m not sure. There’s a lot of tension.”

Both he and Reading’s disappointed manager, Steve Coppell, thought that Bolton improved and increasingly took over the game. Megson was delighted with his defence, not least with the new acquisition, Gary Cahill, at centre-back. “Gary did really well, but he came into a settled back four.”

He was predictably delighted with Kevin Nolan, his captain and scorer of the crucial first goal, wondering whether he might be called up by England, but unsurprised that it hasn’t happened since Bolton are among the teams at the bottom of the division.

As for Coppell, he admitted: “It was poor. I can’t really explain why. We didn’t look sharp from the first whistle. In the second half, we had a few things flying across the goal, but not any kind of performance that would give us comfort for the future. The first goal was a sucker punch because we got in a kerfuffle with the officials over where the ball should be placed, with [Kevin] Davies flicking on and Nolan running in with no challenge.”

There was no more embarrassing fact. That goal came on 33 minutes following a huge kick by Bolton’s goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen. Davies indeed flicked on, but where was the Reading defence when the ball reached an unmarked Nolan? Absent, alas, without leave.

Bolton had already thrown away one opportunity. On 24 minutes, Marek Matejovsky, on his first start in midfield, brought down the Bolton right-back Gretar Steinsson. Matt Taylor drove the penalty to the left of Reading’s American keeper, Marcus Hahnemann, but he flung himself to make a save.

Leroy Lita had a header blocked early in the second half for the home side before Heidar Helguson ran on to score Bolton’s second and plunge Reading into trouble.

“What a great challenge,” said Coppell of the task of staying in the Premier League. “We’ve got to rise to it.” But can they?

Star man: Kevin Nolan (Bolton)

Reading: Hahnemann 7, Murty 6, Cisse 5, Ingimarsson 6, Shorey 6, Matejovsky 5, Doyle 6, Hunt 6, Harper 5 (Sonko 73min), Lita 6 (Long 76min), Kitson 5 (Oster 67min)
Bolton: Jaaskelainen 7, Gardner 6, Cahill 7, O’Brien 6, Steinsson 6, Guthrie 7 (Cohen 73min), Taylor 6 (Samuel 67min), Campo 7, Nolan 7, Davies 7, Helguson 7 (Diouf 67min)

Scorers: Bolton: Nolan 33, Helguson 58

Yellow cards: Reading: Lita, Kitson, Ingimarsson Bolton: Davies

Referee: P Dowd

Attendance: 21,893