FOR Newcastle United's sake, let's hope a tape of last night's game wasn't being express delivered to Michael Owen's Madrid home.

If it was then the England striker must be re-writing the statement he released yesterday morning replacing '12-month loan move to Newcastle United' to 'anyone but Newcastle United'.

Graeme Souness' side were dire and were flattered by the scoreline. It could have been four or five.

Thankfully for them it was only goals either side of half-time by El Hadji Diouf and Stelios that Bolton had to show for their dominance.

What made it worse for Souness was the lack of fight shown by his side after they went two down in the 50th minute.

The away fans had to wait until more than half an hour later for Newcastle to get an effort on goal with Alan Shearer's snap shot from just outside the box comfortably palmed away by Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The fans may have somewhat surprisingly chanted his name during the first half but, by the time the final whistle blew, he would have wanted to be anywhere but the Reebok.

The pressure is intensifying and Souness can only hope that he's still in charge if a deal to bring Owen to Tyneside can be thrashed out before next Wednesday when the transfer window slams shut.

His only two fit first-team strikers were reunited at the Reebok but that's where the good news ended.

Shola Ameobi returned after serving his ban carried over from last season for his first league start of the campaign, Milner dropping to the bench along with Charles N'Zogbia who was replaced by Amdy Faye.

Their wait for the first goal of the campaign almost ended with less than four minutes gone.

Celestine Babayaro hoisted the ball to the back post, where Shearer cleverly headed down to Lee Bowyer.

The ball bounced just behind the midfielder but he quickly swivelled and shot left-footed from eight yards, only for former Magpie Gary Speed to head his effort off the line with Jussi Jaaskelainen in the home goal beaten.

An open start saw play switch quickly from end to end with Jay-Jay Okocha firing over from an acute angle soon after.

Everyone's favourite villain, Diouf, roundly booed by the away following, soon added to the Newcastle fans' ire with a theatrical dive in the box when challenged by Babayaro.

The two clashed again halfway through the half when Diouf should have put Wanderers ahead.

Striker Henrik Pedersen, playing in an unaccustomed left back role, delivered an excellent cross and Babayaro just did enough to put Diouf off from six yards out.

Never one to shirk his pantomime villain duties, Diouf was appealing for everything whilst at the same time causing the Newcastle defence more than his fair share of problems.

The Magpies bright opening gave way to a more fractious period of play with a lack of width causing more than one move to break down.

Just after the half hour the ever willing Stephen Carr decided to provide his own wing play but his final effort from 25 yard out was horribly wide.

Never one to stay out of the action for long, Diouf then gave the Newcastle fans a real reason to dislike him.

Good work from Okocha gave Nick Hunt the time and space to dink a cross over from the right edge of the penalty area.

White shirts outnumbered the blue and black at the far post and with Carr left marking a just onside duo, Diouf almost pushed Kevin Nolan out of the way to head past Given.

Ideas appeared thin on the ground in the Magpies midfield and five minutes into the second they were non-existent as Bolton's second arrived with almost embarrassing ease.

A move down the right appeared to have broken down when Hunt's cross evaded everyone. Diouf however refused to give up the ghost and kept the ball in by the left hand corner flag.

With no-one within ten yards of him he rolled the ball then picked out the head of Speed at the near post. His flick was met by Stelios almost on the goal-line who couldn't fail to bundle home with Jean Alain Boumsong's effort to stop not even warranting the term challenge.

It wasn't just the Bolton team now taking the proverbial as the home fans began chants of 'we want Souness out'.

With 58 minutes gone tormentor-in-chief Diouf escaped down the left again, pulled back for Okocha to let fly from 25 yards with the ball flying past Given's left hand post.

Devoid of invention a seemingly desperate Souness replaced the inept Faye with Lee Clark on the hour - summing up the dearth of options available to the Scot.

There was no battling response to the two-goal deficit and despite late long range efforts from Shearer and Shola Ameobi the Magpies simply had nothing to offer.

* Everton will have to settle for a place in the UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League after losing 2-1 at Villareal. Mikel Arteta cancelled out Juan Pablo Sorin's opener for Villarreal, but the Spaniards go through. Tim Cahill saw his cross back off the bar and Ferguson had an effort ruled out for an infringement before Diego Forlan wrapped things up.

* Gabriel Heinze scored twice and Kieran Richardson added another as Manchester United cruised into the Champions League group phase. But the celebrations at earning a place in today's draw were tempered by the loss of Gary Neville for around five weeks with a groin strain. He suffered the injury just 10 minutes into the Red Devils' triumph over Debrecen in Budapest. The problem will rule the 30-year-old out of England's World Cup double-header against Wales and Northern Ireland next month, as well as United's crucial games against Newcastle, Man City and Liverpool, plus their first two Champions League games.

Result: Bolton Wanderers 2 Newcastle United 0.

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