KEVIN Nolan admitted today how anger got the better of him at The Riverside.

The young Wanderer, back in the starting line-up after a rapid recovery from injury, was booked by referee Clive Wilkes for going over the top with his protest when Middlesbrough's second and decisive goal in the 69th minute was allowed to stand.

Video replays showed the referee and his assistant were correct to ignore offside claims when the Cameroon midfielder Geremi broke away to score, but the Bolton players were furious that Joseph Job was not penalised for a clattering aerial challenge on Anthony Barness a split-second earlier.

"I felt the referee's decision was terrible," Nolan said. "I thought it was a definite free kick and, as you saw, I got yellow-carded. I'm not really happy about that but that's life in the Premiership and you've got to take it."

But this was no hard luck story for Wanderers, who were almost swept aside by Boro's brilliance in the first quarter.

"For the first 20 minutes I think they had a game plan and to be perfectly honest they rattled us," Nolan acknowledged. "They kept coming at us and to be fair to them they did well.

"They'd done their homework on us but we did get back into it and were a bit unfortunate to concede the second goal."