Super Whites do it again!

A little more than 11 months ago they savoured the unforgettable experience of witnessing a derby victory that turned the Premiership table on its head and knocked Manchester United out of their Championship stride.

It was a result that was to prove fatal for the Reds and crucial to Wanderers' survival ambitions.

But could they really manage it again? Even Sam Allardyce was honest enough to admit it was unfair to expect his players to produce a repeat of last season's incredible results against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

But Kevin Nolan - one of the goalscoring heroes of that memorable October 20 triumph - has too much youthful enthusiasm to harbour anything but the most positive of thoughts.

"If you don't believe, what's the point in coming here?" the midfield starlet asked pointedly as he surveyed the scene of last night's personal triumph - the 77th minute matchwinner that sent 2,800 Wanderers' fans inside Old Trafford and 4,700 more at the Reebok into ecstatic celebrations.

"Manchester United are a great side and you have to respect them. But you always believe you can nick that winner ... and that's what we've done again."

And somewhat sweeter second time around since Nolan did not have to share the scoring limelight, as he did last time when his pal Michael Ricketts netted the second half decider.

Sweeter too for Allardyce who is claiming his place in history for managing Wanderers to back to back Old Trafford victories.

But it was not only an entry in the record books that made this so satisfying for the Bolton boss. Last year he acknowledged that he'd caught United at just the right time - in between two tough Champions League ties - but this time, apart from the absence of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, Sir Alex Ferguson had every reason to believe his team was strong enough and focused enough.

What Allardyce had not banked on - or Fergie for that matter - was his own players taking the game to United in the way they did. His game plan was to contain, frustrate and stifle some of the Premiership's most creative talents and hope to hit them on the counter-attack. What happened was as big a shock to Big Sam as it was to the Reds themselves.

"I was surprised at the way we took the game to Manchester United, particularly in the first half," he admitted. "Every credit goes to the players for being so brave at a place like this."

For while the second half went according to a familiar script - Wanderers under pressure from wave after wave of United attacks then, as so often happens, going up the other end and nicking a goal - the first 45 was a much more open, end-to-end game which saw the best of the chances fall to the men in the white shirts.

Henrik Pedersen squandered the best when he failed to beat Fabien Barthez in a head-to-head superbly set up by Ricketts' cheeky backheel while Youri Djorkaeff and Anthony Barness knew they should have at least hit the target.

And, for all their talent - Beckham, Butt, Veron and Giggs can hardly be described as a depleted midfield - United's only serious threat was when Ruud van Nistelrooy lashed a shot against the underside the of the bar and had the audacity to claim the ball had bounced over the line, Geoff Hurst style - although thankfully on this occasion there was no Russian linesman to intervene!

Wanderers played the first half as they left off against Aston Villa, not in the cautious 4-5-1 formation most of us expected but in the 4-3-3 shape with Pedersen and Djorkaeff taking every opportunity to join Ricketts, who gave Rio Ferdinand a real run for his money. Per Frandsen was pumped up and productive in midfield while the two oldest players on the park, Gudni Bergsson and Mike Whitlow (combined ages 72), held together a back four that, for all United's second half pressure, offered little in the way of clearcut scoring chances until the chips were down.

Nolan's goal, courtesy of a rare moment of bad control by Beckham, saw United step up a gear from determination to desperation and suddenly Jussi Jaaskelainen, who had previously only been extended by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first half header, suddenly had his reflexes and handling tested - first with a double save to keep out Solskjaer's close range header and Mikael Silvestre's follow-up shot then in the dramatic dying seconds when Barthez was operating menacingly as an outfield player, getting down to stop and hold Diego Forlan's rasping shot.

"They deserved it," Sir Alex sportingly acknowledged, "because they tried to win the game, particularly in the first half. They had a determination about them and made it a very open game.

"They ran their socks off and when they've worked as hard as that you can't deny them victory. We've no divine right to think that because we are Manchester United we can walk over teams who are lower in the league.

"It was disappointing to lose but we've played worse and won games."