Bolton Wanderers maintained their impressive form with a third home win in a row as they emerged comfortable winners in their 3-0 victory over Birmingham City on Saturday.

After a goalless first half, El-Hadji Diouf linked up well with Nicolas Anelka in the 72nd minute to put Bolton in the lead. The hosts doubled the lead six minutes later through a defensive howler by Johan Djourou that left Anelka with a simple finish and the French striker completed the proceedings with a second goal deep in injury time.

Bolton were keen to extend their unbeaten home run under Gary Megson and came close to taking the lead in the opening minute of the match but Ivan Campo's free kick was saved in style by Maik Taylor.

The hosts continued to press ahead with Anelka, Danny Guthrie and Kevin Nolan all having decent chances of breaking the deadlock but were unable to hit the back of the net. Birmingham were content to stay back and soak up the pressure, failing to trouble Jussi Jaaskelainen even once in the Bolton goal.

The visitors' best chance came in the second half through a defensive error by Campo who headed the free kick towards his own net and it took a brilliant save by Jaaskelainen to keep the ball out of the net.

The hosts finally took the lead in the 72nd minute when Diouf easily side-stepped Stephen Kelly to prod in Anelka's cross from close range. Anelka bagged his first of the night six minutes later when he latched on to a poor throw in by Djourou before rounding Maik Taylor to double the lead for his team.

The French striker completed the proceedings late in injury time when he raced behind the Birmingham defense before slotting the ball past a helpless Taylor as Bolton continued their progress away from the relegation zone.