Pictures and analysis of Bolton 2 Wolves 0

Wolves midfielder Jamie O'Hara promised us a quick start. But not from the opposition.

After bulldozing Birmingham with three first-half goals on Easter Monday, it was Wolves' turn to be on the receiving end at the Reebok.

And the outcome was never seriously in doubt as the black and gold revival was stopped in its tracks after a performance as lethargic as it was unexpected following the high-energy shows in the previous two matches.

To say no-one saw it coming is an understatement. Dean Saunders' side travelled up the M6 with confidence after four wins in five games and three straight victories.

But anyone watching Saturday's contest wouldn't have known it as the wheels came off in spectacular fashion.

The big question now is whether they can get the whole thing back on the road in time for Saturday's high-stakes visit of Huddersfield.

Thankfully, the damage done in terms of the league table was limited to one place as defeats for Bristol City and Blackburn and draws for Millwall, Barnsley, Huddersfield and Peterborough – the latter two played each other – saw Wolves still a point clear of the drop zone but down to 19th.

But they proved in the space of 90 minutes – or probably the first 10 – why they have struggled for much of the last eight months in the latest instalment to this lamentable season. It's difficult to think of any outfield player who came out of this game with credit as Wolves returned to the bad old days that their more optimistic fans were hoping they had left behind after back-to-back bullish displays.

It wasn't as bad as the first half against Bristol City, but the first 45 minutes saw a passable impression of some of the worst performances under Stale Solbakken as they were slow to react all over the pitch and gave the ball away cheaply.

Bolton tore at Wolves and later almost toyed with them at times before the break after effectively wrapping the game up through the excellent David Ngog and Marcos Alonso.

Disappointingly, both goals came via set-pieces as Wolves' defence was the dodgiest it's been under Saunders. Ngog lashed into the roof of the net from two yards in the fourth minute after Dorus De Vries failed to hold Craig Dawson's towering header on the line from Jay Spearing's corner, with the striker's marker, Jake Cassidy, unable to react quickly enough.

Six minutes later Bolton doubled their lead when Medo Kamara's shot was blocked and the ball rebounded kindly for Alonso, who was played onside by Wolves' sloppy attempts to push out, De Vries failing to keep the ball out although he got a good hand on it.

Kevin Doyle perhaps should have done better with a firm header that hit the bar from Matt Doherty's cross early on.

And the captain went closer when another header forced Adam Bogdan into a flying reaction save in the 64th minute.

But those were two isolated attacks and there were too few convincing signs of a fightback from the visitors.

On a difficult day for both Wolves full- backs, Bolton seemed to target Doherty and the Irish youngster had his most uncomfortable outing since his Carling Cup baptism of fire against Manchester City, with Chung-Yong Lee and Chris Eagles taking it in turns to terrorise him and Jack Robinson.

Both went close to extending Bolton's lead, Chung-Yong Lee drawing a superb block from De Vries after cutting inside Doherty before the South Korean crossed for Marvin Sordell to fire a volley that the keeper was perfectly placed to save.

Eagles lobbed just wide after Robinson and the out-of-sorts Kaspars Gorkss were too slow to react to Ngog's probing.

Soon after, Wolves' afternoon got worse when David Davis hobbled off with what was later revealed to be ankle ligament damage after a challenge by one-time Wolves target Jay Spearing, who along with Kamara, won the midfield battle with some – at times – borderline tackling.

His replacement, Karl Henry, at least produced two superb challenges that showed the best of his game.

The second saved what could have been a third Bolton goal as Ngog prepared to pull the trigger after running clean through four minutes after the break.

By then, Saunders had replaced Cassidy after an anonymous first half that showed the 20-year-old for what he is – promising, but highly raw.

Saunders was anxious to disrupt the team as little as possible but it seemed to be crying out for Bjorn Sigurdarson to be played up front. Instead, they toiled away playing 4-5-1 from Henry's arrival onwards until the industrious Hunt was pushed alongside Doyle as we saw perhaps just how difficult it's going to be to replace Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

Quick start? Wolves need a quick finish.

By Tim Nash