Manchester United succumbed to their first defeat in over 3 months when they lost out to Bolton Wanderers in their English Premiership clash on Saturday.

Nicolas Anelka put Bolton in the lead after latching on to a mistake by Gerard Pique as United struggled to create any clear chances in the absence of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. This was Gary Megson's first win as Bolton manager, lifting the club out of the relegation zone to 15th in the league table.

Bolton took a shock lead in the 11th minute when Ivan Campo chipped a free kick inside the area as Pique miss-timed his leap to allow Anelka to smash the ball past a helpless Van der Sar to put Bolton in the lead.

United were looking run ragged throughout the match as they failed to create any real chances with Owen Hargreaves coming the closest to scoring the equalizer but his 20-yard shot flew just wide of the target.

Manager Alex Ferguson was sent off at the half time break following a tunnel bust up with referee Mark Clattenburg following a series of tackles on Patrice Evra by Bolton striker Kevin Davies. Anderson was introduced in place of Pique and United looked a more threatening side in the second half as Jussi Jaaskelainen pulled off a brilliant save to deny Hargreaves from a free kick.

Tevez should have had put United level in the 70th minute when he latched on to Evra's cross inside the penalty area but some how managed to shoot over the bar from just a yard out. With his team unable to hit the back of the net, Ferguson watched from the stands United lost to a Bolton side for the first time in nearly 30 years.