Bolton Wanderers succumbed to their second successive defeat of the new season when they lost 2-1 to Fulham at the Craven Cottage on Wednesday.

Bolton had taken the lead early in the first half thanks to a defensive blunder that allowed Heidar Helguson with a simple tap in against his former club. However two goals in three minutes from David Healy and Alexei Smertin allowed Fulham come back into the match and claim a priceless victory at the start of the new season.

A quiet first few minutes of the match saw a solid Fulham defense against a team gunning for a European spot, as both teams struggled to find their feet on a wet pitch. But a defensive howler from keeper Tony Warner allowed Bolton to take the lead in the 13th minute.

Warner rushed forward to collect Nicky Hunt's long throw, but the 33-year old collided against Zat Knight, spilling the ball straight in the path of Helguson who passed the ball into the net from 12 yards out. Stung by the goal, Fulham went ahead in search of the equalizer, with Smertin testing Jaaskelainen with a low shot, but the Bolton keeper managed to hold on to the ball.

Fulham pulled level in the 23rd minute with another defensive blunder from Bolton, as Helguson and Abdoulaye Meite collided with each other in an attempt to clear the ball, but only managing to send it straight to Healy who was left with a simple tap in from six yards out.

Three minutes later, Fulham took the lead when Smertin's shot from outside the area took a massive deflection off Gerald Cid and into the top corner of the Bolton goal. Bolton failed to crate any meaningful chance for the rest of the half as Fulham went into the break in the lead.

The visitors had a great chance of equalizing immediately after half time when El-Hadji Diouf's curling cross found Kevin Nolan in the box, but the midfielder somehow managed to head the ball wide of the target. Warner the pulled off a spectacular save to deny Nicolas Anelka's attempt from just inside the box but it would have been in vain had Cid managed to direct his header off the rebound into an open net.

Bolton went all out in search of an equalizer in the dying minutes of the match, but were unable to find the goal which would have provided them with the first points of the new campaign.

Fulham next face Middlesbrough on Saturday while Bolton hope to get their season on track with an away trip to Portsmouth. Watch live Premiership football here on free-football.tv.