Newcastle 3 Bolton 1: Resurgent Newcastle condemned Bolton to their first Premiership defeat in eight attempts as Alan Shearer returned from injury to hit the goal trail once again.

Only French aristocrats Marseille had beaten Wanderers in their previous 12 games in all competitions, but Nolberto Solano’s exquisite 34th-minute free-kick and Shearer’s bullet header 11 minutes later put them firmly on the back foot.

Shola Ameobi made it 3-0 with 21 minutes remaining, but Kevin Davies pulled one back on 71 minutes and the home side had to survive a concerted fightback in which Kevin Nolan had a late effort chalked off for handball.

However, survive it they did to send home the Geordies among a crowd of 52,012 smiling again after singing caretaker boss Glenn Roeder’s name in delight at a fifth victory in six games.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has been touted as one of the main candidates for the vacant job at St James’ Park, but he left the north-east knowing his current side had left it too late to make their mark on the game.

Graeme Souness had been less than complimentary about Bolton’s style of play after the nine-game unbeaten run with which he had launched his tenure was brought to an end at the Reebok Stadium in October, 2004.

His view was that Wanderers bullied his side out of the game with their physical approach, helping to fuel the debate over "ugly" football in the Premiership. But Roeder greeted Bolton’s challenge by setting out to nullify their strengths and bring those of his players to bear, and he could hardly have been more pleased with the way his plan worked out during the opening 45 minutes.

With Davies operating as a lone striker and dropping back into midfield whenever his side lost the ball, the centre of the field was crowded. Abdoulaye Faye’s role in front of the back four allowed Stelios Giannakopoulos the freedom to roam, and with the men around them more than comfortable on the ball, they passed and moved fluently.

However, when they did get to within striking distance of Shay Given’s goal, they came across a stubborn Newcastle defence intent upon keeping a fifth clean sheet in six games. Only once was their any cause for concern, when Robbie Elliott got his head to Nolan’s 24th-minute shot and deflected it against the post, but most of the trouble came at the other end.

Emre was unfortunate to see an improvised 17th-minute effort come back off the upright and Ameobi completely missed his kick after Celestine Babayaro and Charles N’Zogbia had combined to carve open the visitors’ defence 12 minutes before the break.

But salvation arrived seconds later when Solano, the man whose double last weekend saw off Everton, curled a superb free-kick past Jussi Jaaskelainen to give his side the lead. The second goal, which arrived on half-time, said everything about the quality of the players Roeder has at his disposal. Scott Parker’s quick feet bought him time and space in a tight spot on halfway and allowed Emre to find Babayaro on the left.

His pass inside Joey O’Brien gave N’Zogbia time to pick out Shearer at the far post, and although Jaaskelainen got a hand to his bullet header, he could not keep it out. Allardyce replaced defender Bruno N’Gotty with striker Henrik Pedersen at the break in a bid to give Davies greater support, and his side finally started to make an impression in the final third of the field.

But Newcastle’s new-found resilience at the back was matched by a growing potency in attack and the visitors found themselves repeatedly under pressure at the back. Remarkably, the diminutive Emre managed to climb above former Magpie Gary Speed to head the ball on for N’Zogbia to race away with Solano in support on 55 minutes, although the teenager took the wrong option to allow the cover to arrive and snuff out the attack.

Newcastle started to assume control once again as the half wore on with Jaaskelainen at times the only man standing between them and a third goal. That duly arrived on 69 minutes when Ameobi controlled Emre’s shot in front of goal and hammered it home, but when Davies slid home Radhi Jaidi’s header two minutes later, the alarm bells started to ring.

Given had to pull off a superb save to deny substitute Pedersen a second two minutes later and Nolan had an 87th-minute strike ruled out for handball as Bolton went for broke, but it proved too little, too late.