Bolton 1 Newcastle 3: Sam Allardyce could not have wished for a better start to life as Newcastle manager thanks to two goals from Obafemi Martins.

To win handsomely away from home on the opening day is special enough, achieving it your former club must be especially sweet. While Allardyce was all smiles - Charles N'Zogbia was also on target - his former assistant Sammy Lee has much work to do.

The new Bolton boss has promised to play a more expansive game than his predecessor but they only started performing in the second half. By then they were 3-0 down after looking nervous from the off.

Newcastle took the lead in the 11th minute with a goal out of nothing. N'Zogbia drove in a free-kick from the right which eluded the Bolton defence and goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. Lee looked on a disbelief as the ball nestled in the back of the net after his players had switched off.

Newcastle extended their lead in the 21st minute and again Bolton's defending was poor. James Milner was able to weigh up his cross and found Martins at the back post. He beat Jaaskelainen with a superb overhead kick.

The agony continued for Bolton in the 27th minute when Martins made it 3-0 with his second goal of the game. He had a bit of luck, however, his shot from 20 yards taking a deflection off defender Abdoulaye Faye to leave Jaaskelainen stranded.

Bolton boss Lee made a change at half-time, bringing on El-Hadji Diouf for Ricardo Vaz Te, who had been ineffective. They immediately looked more of a threat and Newcastle goalkeeper Stephen Harper was tested for the first time in the 47th minute.

He did well to beat away a shot by Gary Speed from the edge of the area after Anelka had laid the ball into his path.

Bolton pulled a goal back in the 50th minute through Anelka after a superb reverse pass from Nolan. There was still work for the Frenchman to do but he gave Harper no chance and found the corner with his effort.

That gave Bolton a fighting chance but they never really troubled Newcastle after that.