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"There is no better feeling, apart from watching my children being born - it is my best result as a manager."

In that one sentence, Sam Allardyce summed up what it meant to be associated with a Bolton Wanderers team that had beaten Manchester United on their own patch.

Wanderers, newly promoted to the Premiership, beat United, the champions, 2-1 at Old Trafford in one of the great upsets that would establish Big Sam and his "Little Old Bolton" as a force to be reckoned with.

They had already beaten Liverpool, but this was comfortably their most impressive result since they first dipped their toe in the Premier League waters in 1995.

And the manager on the receiving end was honest enough to admit they deserved it.

Sir Alex Ferguson's gamble of resting eight members of the team that had lost to Deportivo La Coruna in the Champions League four nights earlier backfired. But the United boss had no complaints after seeing Kevin Nolan and Michael Ricketts get the goals that stunned Old Trafford.

"No excuses," Fergie said. "Bolton thoroughly deserved their win. Sam has done a good job there."

The accolade was well-earned. Allardyce had worked specifically on exploiting the fact that Fergie and United were distracted by their Champions League commitments. And so it proved.

There was no Ryan Giggs and no David Beckham in the starting line-up but United still turned out a side that, on paper at least, should have been too strong for Wanderers who hadn't won for six games and were starting to feel the Premiership heat.

It looked like mission impossible when Juan Sebastian Veron gave United a 25th-minute lead with a peach of a free kick, but the setback served only to galvanise Wanderers, who were level 10 minutes later.

Bruno N'Gotty - making his first Premiership start after joining Wanderers on loan from Marseille - delivered the cross for Ricketts to tee-up Nolan for a volley that beat Fabian Barthez and silenced Old Trafford.

They still had their nervous moments - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a goal disallowed for offside and Jussi Jaaskelainen made an incredible double save from Paul Scholes and Andy Cole - but they were denied a copper-bottomed penalty when Veron tripped Per Frandsen on the edge of the box four minutes into the second half.

Ricketts and Ricardo Gardner both went close as Wanderers, looking more confident with every passing minute, went for the winner, which came six minutes from the end.

Wes Brown failed to deal with Jasskelainen's long clearance and Ricketts pounced to give Wanderers their first victory over United for 22 years.

"There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe how I feel," Allardyce added as he basked in the glory after the game. "There's nothing higher for a manager than seeing his team win against a team like that and a manager like that - and at a place like this."

Sir Alex had to content himself with his horse, Rock of Gibraltar, winning the 3.30 at Newmarket.

"It's my biggest day as a race-horse owner," he said, "just spolied by my little football team."

Manchester United Barthez; Phil Neville, May (Gary Neville 78), Brown, Silvestre; Solskjaer, Scholes (Giggs 66), Veron, Butt; Yorke (Chadwick 67), Cole. Not used: Carroll, Stewart.

Wanderers Jaaskelainen; N'Gotty, Bergsson, Whitlow, Charlton; Hansen (Barness 82), Nolan, Warhurst (Johnson 54), Frandsen, Gardner; Ricketts. Not used: Banks, Holdsworth, Wallace.

Referee: Graham Barber (Tring). Attendance: 67,559.

5:21pm Tuesday 20th November 2007

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