[kennethlindheim]

Newcastle's revival continued as they claimed a deserved 3-1 win over high-flying Bolton at St James' Park.

Glenn Roeder has revived Newcastle's fortunes since replacing Graeme Souness and goals by Nolberto Solano, Alan Shearer and Shola Ameobi handed The Magpies a fifth win in six games under their caretaker chief.

Bolton threatened an unlikely fightback when Kevin Davies bundled home 20 minutes from time, but they wasted a couple of presentable chances in the final 15 minutes as their hopes of pushing on for a UEFA Champions League place were dealt a blow.

The Magpies are reformed characters under Roeder and they started extremely brightly, with Ameobi threatening down the right and Jean-Alain Boumsong just failing to get a shot on goal following a scramble at a corner.

African star Jay-Jay Okocha sparked Bolton into life with a raking 50-yard ball to Kevin Nolan who crossed for Gary Speed but his header lacked direction.

Roeder's policy of fielding out and out wingers has paid dividends as Solano and Charles N'Zogbia looked menacing every time they touched the ball.

Shortly after a Solano cross had been cleared, Turkish star Emre struck the inside of the post with a swerving shot from 20 yards.

Bolton also saw the woodwork working against them, as Nolan's volley following a clever knockdown from Speed was headed onto the post by the retreating Robbie Elliott.

Abdoulaye Faye came close to opening the scoring in spectacular style for the visitors, but his long-range drive flew just wide of Shay Given's goal.

Newcastle scouts unearthed N'Zogbia last year and he is flourishing on Tyneside. He created a chance for Ameobi which was wasted and later had a shot charged down following a fine tackle from Emre.

Newcastle were by far the better side in the first half and it came as no surprise when Solano fired them in front on 34 minutes. The Peruvian netted a brace last week and he followed up with a superb free kick from 20 yards which was much too good for Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Newcastle have been guilty of defensive lapses on occasions this term, but they remained focused for the remainder of the half and dealt a hammer blow to Bolton's hopes when Shearer headed them into a two-goal lead on 45 minutes.

N'Zogbia was the architect with a superb cross which allowed Shearer to rise high and head on target. The effort was well directed, but Jaaskelainen got a good hand to the ball and should have done better. However, he only pushed the ball into the air and it dropped agonisingly over the line for the visiting keeper.

The Magpies continued to call the shots after the interval, with Emre shooting wide and Shearer seeing a rasping drive fly just over the crossbar.

Newcastle's superior play brought a third goal 20 minutes from time, with Ameobi rifling home from close range after Emre's effort had landed at his feet.

Rather than killing the game off, the third goal sparked Bolton into life and Davies gave them hope when bundling home from close range after Radhi Jaidi had climbed high to head across goal.

Given had been a virtual spectator for 70 minutes, but he earned his wages minutes after Davies' goal when pulling off a fine reaction save to thwart Henrik Pedersen.

Ricardo Vaz Te then lashed wide as Newcastle threatened to buckle under the pressure, while Davies fired wide and Nolan had a goal disallowed for handball, but Boumsong won a couple of headers and tackles to settle the nerves as Newcastle held on to climb into the top ten.

Good win for Newcastle, this was a tough game for us and we managed to pull out a good result.
We thoroughly deserved the win. I thought we played very well. We were very creative going forward ( Big Al helped with his threat).