Southampton 1, Bolton 2

KEVIN Davies returned to haunt his old club, scoring the winner for Bolton as they took the points at St Mary's on Saturday.

The visitors very nearly took the lead in the opening five minutes as Jay-Jay Okocha's 30-yard strike beat Antti Niemi and then rattled the crossbar.

Saints were forced into a change soon after when Graeme Le Saux pulled up with a hamstring injury and will now miss South-ampton's game against his former club, Chelsea.

He was replaced by Fitz Hall, who slotted into the centre of the defence, with Danny Higginbotham moving to left-back.

The home side should have taken the lead on 15 minutes, when James Beattie had a free header from a Paul Telfer cross, but it went over the bar.

The home side did break their duck on 20 minutes when Telfer's pass to Marian Pahars got him inside defender Anthony Barness and, from a tight angle, he scored.

Bolton came closest to scoring in the remainder of the half as Davies was denied from close range by a great save from Niemi.

Just after the hour, Pahars broke well and found Anders Svensson but his powerful 25-yard shot went just wide.

Soon after, Saints appealed for a penalty as Svensson looked to have been pushed by Nicky Hunt but referee Steve Dunn waved away the appeals.

Then, out of nowhere, Bolton equalised on 76 minutes as Davies' pass was slotted home by Kevin Nolan from 10 yards.

Before Southampton had time to regroup, the visitors scored a second goal as Okocha's cross was headed home by Davies.

Saints were now on the backfoot and never recovered as Bolton won the game to keep alive their slim chance of European football next season.

Saints: Niemi, Telfer, Lundekvam, Higginbotham, Le Saux (sub Hall 9min), Prutton, Delap (sub A Svensson 48min), Folly, Pahars (sub Fernandes 78min), Beattie, Phillips. Subs (not used): Ormerod, Smith.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Barness (sub Hunt 45min), N'Gotty, Thome, Charlton, Nolan, Campo, Okocha, Djorkaeff (sub Giannakopoulous 76min), Davies, Pedersen (sub Frandsen 49min). Subs (not used): Rickets, Moreno.