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By Chris Whyatt
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 Bolton's flurry of goals saw Sunderland fans leaving the ground early
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Sunderland plunged into the bottom three on a miserable day for Roy Keane's side as Bolton ran riot at a disgruntled Stadium of Light.
The hosts had taken an early lead through Djibril Cisse's classy strike.
But Bolton soon equalised via Matthew Taylor's header and swiftly stole the lead through Gary Cahill's low drive.
Woeful defensive errors then let Johan Elmander put away clinical goals either side of half time as Sunderland fell to their fifth defeat in six league games.
Many Sunderland supporters left before full-time and boos rang out around the stadium after Keane's 100th game in charge of the Black Cats - and it was easy to understand their frustration at the club's third straight home defeat.
Much of what went wrong was of their own undoing as Bolton moved up to seventh in the table following their fourth win in five Premier League matches.
Cruelly, false hope dawned for Sunderland after they took a 10th minute lead with a superbly-worked team goal.
Kieron Richardson snapped a pass through for Steed Malbranque who, after waiting for Cisse to time his run perfectly, laid a through-ball in for the French striker to slot past Juuski Jaaskelainen and in off the far post for his sixth goal of the season.
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606: DEBATE
Poolie_Mackem
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Focused Bolton were unfazed though and instantly sought to cause danger from high dead-balls looped into the box.
The visitors equaliser came in the 18th minute when Taylor rose higher than Pascal Chimbonda to loft a header over £9m Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon - just back from injury - and in off the underside of the bar following Gretar Steinsson's deep cross.
Two minutes later Bolton were ahead after Andy O'Brien drifted a free-kick into the heart of Sunderland's penalty area.
With the hosts unable to cope with the bustling Kevin Davies, the ball dropped for Cahill who hammered the ball through a crowd of defenders into the goal from 12 yards.
Sunderland did have the ball in the net after half an hour, but Cisse's goal was disallowed after the linesman ruled that Kenwyne Jones had pushed Jlloyd Samuel as he crashed a header against the bar in the build-up.
Taylor then steered a pass beyond a Sunderland back-line completely void of confidence but Elmander, after rounding keeper Gordon, could only guide the ball wide with the goal gaping.
But he atoned in the 38th minute when, following a 60-yard pass pumped forward from Cahill, Sunderland defender Collins totally missed the ball on the bounce - a hideous error - allowing the Swedish striker to pounce and clinically slot between Gordon's legs.
 Sunderland boss Keane was disappointed with his side's errors
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Jones could have put Sunderland back in the game just before half-time as he went agonisingly close to nodding in Malbranque's driven cross.
No doubt manager Roy Keane had some harsh words for his faltering Sunderland players at the break - yet it was Bolton who came out brightest, with McCann's long-range shot forcing an athletic high stop from Gordon.
Elmander triggered a mini-exodus from Sunderland fans after 54 minutes when another shocking defensive mistake let Bolton add a fourth.
With time and space to clear, captain Dean Whitehead dallied to let Kevin Nolan pick up the ball and, with Sunderland exposed, he squared for Elmander to fire high for his second goal of the game.
Keane made two substitutions in a bid to shake up his players who, in truth, were working hard to make things happen - but the Swede should have claimed his hat-trick when he missed a simple chance to score in the 73rd minute.
The hosts did carve have the odd chance but, in truth, the game petered out as Bolton attempted to close off possession and shell-shocked Sunderland waited for the final whistle.
Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Collins, Chimbonda, Malbranque (Tainio 62), Whitehead, Richardson (Leadbitter 46), Reid (Miller 63), Cisse, Jones.
Subs Not Used: Fulop, Diouf, Murphy, Ferdinand.
Booked: Richardson, Nosworthy, Bardsley, Chimbonda.
Goals: Cisse 11.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Andrew O'Brien, Samuel, Muamba, Davies, Nolan, McCann, Taylor (Gardner 46), Elmander (Basham 89).
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Smolarek, Riga, Shittu, Obadeyi.
Goals: Taylor 18, Cahill 21, Elmander 39, 55.
Att: 35,457
Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match on 90 minutes: Bolton's Johan Elmander 7.52 (on 90 minutes).
Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished.
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