Bolton's record signing Johan Elmander finally showed a glimpse of the reason why Gary Megson stumped up £10million for him in the summer with a stunning late strike to help sink Middlesbrough 3-1.
The Swede had been axed by his national team and endured countless votes of confidence from his manager after failing to hit the net since the opening day win over Stoke.
But Elmander provided the best possible answer to his critics when he chested down a Jlloyd Samuel cross in the 78th minute before lashing an unstoppable left-foot shot past Ross Turnbull.
Elmander's late heroics extinguished Boro hopes of a grandstand finish after Stewart Downing had given them hope of extending their unbeaten record to six games with a low strike two minutes earlier.
But the truth was Boro never deserved a thing from an afternoon in which they started appallingly and found themselves two goals down after strikes by Kevin Davies and Matt Taylor with just 10 minutes on the clock.
Shell-shocked Boro had started like anything but a team in the midst of a confident unbeaten run and it could have been even worse with Gary Cahill glancing a header into the arms of Turnbull with seconds on the clock.
Then Turnbull had to be wary of his flat-footed defenders to race out and deny a clean run for Kevin Nolan, who had been sent scampering through the Boro back-line by the lively Elmander.
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