Roberts nets winner
Bolton began the most testing period of their Premier League season so far with a crushing 2-1 defeat at home to Lancashire rivals Blackburn.
With Nicolas Anelka just a fond memory and El-Hadji Diouf away on African Nations Cup duty with Senegal, Gary Megson's side have a gaping hole in the firepower department and that was evident at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday, despite captain Kevin Nolan's impressive first-half opener.
Christopher Samba headed an equaliser within 10 minutes of the break before Jason Roberts powered forward to hit a 90th-minute winner in front of a crowd of 18,315.
After a scrappy start David Bentley almost put Blackburn ahead in the 17th minute with a fine free-kick that just curled over the bar.
However, Bolton made the breakthrough after 43 minutes with a spectacular effort from Nolan.
The skipper hooked the ball over his shoulder from an acute angle following a crossfield ball from Joey O'Brien for his fourth goal of the season.
But Blackburn drew level in the 53rd minute when Samba got on the end of David Bentley's corner to head home at the back post. Jussi Jaaskelainen was left disappointed after changing his mind about coming for Bentley's delivery.
Rovers were looking to seal all three points and Roberts replaced the ineffective Benni McCarthy up front in the 77th minute.
Bentley almost put them ahead in the 83rd minute but Jaaskelainen managed to get a hand to his free-kick at the last minute.
But Roberts sealed victory for Blackburn on the stroke of full-time when he raced on to a flick from Roque Santa Cruz and saw his effort take a slight deflection off O'Brien.
Roberts hopes for more time with Blackburn
Jason Roberts hopes his match-winning cameo at Bolton today will "put pressure" on Blackburn boss Mark Hughes to grant him more first-team opportunities.
The striker showed power and pace after being set up by Roque Santa Cruz to rifle a shot into the corner on the stroke of full-time to make it 2-1 to Rovers.
Christopher Samba had equalised for Blackburn in the 53rd minute, after Kevin Nolan opening the scoring for Bolton with a superb first-half strike.
"It's obviously been disappointing not to play many games - but I think today I showed a little bit what I can do," Roberts told Sky Sports News.
"It's been frustrating with injuries since I came to this club. But I think I'm ready to play; I've been ready for a while now and I want to put pressure on the manager and show people what I can do."
Asked about where his future lies, Roberts said: "It's not really in my hands at the moment. I just want to play football."
Blackburn boss Mark Hughes thought the win was well-deserved.
He said: "I thought we were very unlucky to go in at half-time 1-0 down, though it was a great strike, the lads were obviously disappointed to have conceded there.
"In the second half I thought we came out really determined with a positive aspect to the play and we got our reward in the end. I thought over 90 minutes we deserved to win."
Asked again about the speculation linking him with the vacancy at Newcastle, Hughes said: "There was a lot of speculation around the game today but everybody was very focused.
"It is nothing to do with me, as a professional football manager speculation surrounds each and every one of us when a vacancy comes up.
"All I can do is work extremely hard as I always have done for Blackburn Rovers."
Opposite number Gary Megson told Sky Sports News: "They have got some terrific players there and in the second half they were on top.
"When Jason came on, with the strength and power he has got, we struggled to contain him."
