Everton 0 Bolton Wanderers 4: Stelios turns blue cheers to jeers

Greek's double leaves Everton manager contemplating relegation battle

Last Sunday Everton were being applauded for holding Manchester United at Old Trafford; yesterday they were booed off the pitch after suffering their second home defeat of the week.

Worse, the spectre of relegation is suddenly looming alarmingly again. Not only did David Moyes' team ship four goals but results at Fulham and Ports-mouth did them no favours either and they are hovering just above the bottom three.

What was even more frustrating for the Everton manager was that much of the damage was self-inflicted. Mistakes and a silly penalty led to three of Bolton's goals, two of which were scored by Stelios Giannakopoulos, giving a new twist to Greeks and gifts.

Kevin Davies, with his first goal since the opening day of the season, and Gary Speed, with a penalty, were the other scorers. The biggest indictment of Everton was that Bolton did not even play that well.

"The result flattered us," Sam Allardyce, their manager, said, while Moyes could only bemoan the numerous mistakes by his team. "You won't see defending as bad as that in the park tomorrow," he said. The game began with the ball as an optional extra. Davies was booked within 36 seconds for clattering into Phil Neville and Kevin Nolan and Davies, again, were lectured by the referee before the game was five minutes old.

When Jussi Jaaskelainen collapsed to the floor after James McFadden had flung an elbow, it was tempting to wonder when the fighting was going to stop and the football begin, but eventually players began to pass the ball rather than snarls and Bolton took the lead after 32 minutes.

Almost inevitably, given the tetchy nature of the match, the goal came from a free-kick after Tony Hibbert sent Giannakopoulos flying. The kick was half-cleared, Nolan's volley thumped into the ground and, with the ball bouncing high, Davies was able to loop his header over Richard Wright.

The effort hit the post, James Beattie hooked the ball away, but television pictures showed it had crossed the line. With the onus on them to attack, the home side had to improve in the second half and they had the ball in the net after 72 minutes. David Weir headed on a free-kick and McFadden passed the ball into the net. The Scot ran to the corner flag to celebrate only for it to be ruled offside.

That proved to be the high tide mark for Everton because they slumped in alarming fashion afterwards, conceding three goals in five minutes. Ricardo Vaz Te had been on the pitch only a matter of seconds when Weir gave him the ball in the 75th minute with a misdirected pass. The Portuguese midfielder ran through the centre and then passed to Giannakopoulos, who shot into the corner of the net.

Three minutes later it was 3-0 when Nuno Valente climbed all over Davies in an aerial tussle and Speed converted the penalty. And, with Everton's defence falling apart, Leon Osman lost possession and Giannakopoulos cut inside Weir before thumping a shot into the top corner.

"If that was Arsenal you would be raving about the quality of the strikes," Allardyce said, "so rave about us. The two goals by Stelios were superb."