BOLTON got off to the perfect start on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season with a 3-1 demolition of Stoke City.
A scintillating 20 minute display at the end of the first-half was enough to see off the top-flight new-boys as Gretar Steinsson, Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander struck to send the vast majority of the 22,717 in attendance at the Reebok home with a smile on their faces.
Ricardo Fuller netted a late consolation for the Potters, but his 90th minute strike had no bearing on the direction the points were heading.
Indeed, it was a superb all round performance by the Wanderers who looked threatening in attack, imposing in midfield and extremely resilient in defence.
It could have been a potenital banana-skin considering Stoke's promotion last season, but Bolton were professional from start to finish and thoroughly deserved all three points.
Ahead of kick-off, Gary Megson handed full debuts to Fabrice Muamba and Johan Elmander, whilst Riga and Danny Shittu were named amongst the seven substitutes.
The visitors started brightly and forced a few early throw-ins, which were made dangerous by Rory Delap's capabilities. The Stoke midfielder launched in a succession of deep throws into the home side's penalty box, but the defensive line stood strong and thwarted any early pressure.
Dave Kitson was proving a nuisance too, while Jaaskelainen denied Leon Cort from point-black range although the referee's assistant had flagged for offside.
After weathering the opening 20 minutes, the Whites started to play themselves into the game, carving out a number of opportunities. Matt Taylor had a left-footed effort blocked by Leon Cort and Kevin Nolan was inches away from breaking the deadlock when sliding in, he couldn't quite connect with the former Portsmouth midfielder's delicious low cross.
Then, out of nowhere, Steinsson bagged an early contender for goal of the month on 34 minutes. The marauding full-back laced a 25-yard thunderbolt off the crossbar and past the helpless Thomas Sorensen from out on the right touchline.
Whether he meant it is another debate, but it was a fantastic way to bag his first goal for the club and set the wheels in motion for the season.
Wanderers doubled their lead shortly after when Kevin Davies pounced inside the Potters six-yard box to nod post Sorensen. Gary Cahill had floated in a deep free-kick into dangerous territory and the Bolton number 14 shrugged off a number of defenders before flicking the ball into the top corner.
Just as Bolton looked to be going into the break with a two-goal advantage, they added further to their commanding lead on the stroke of half-time.
Elmander finally got his debut goal that he deserved having already come close with a couple of chances - most notably a shot from the edge of the box that flew only inches over the crossbar.
The summer signing guided his free header low past Thomas Sorensen from Joey O'Brien's set-piece to send the home support into raptures.
The giant Swede continued in the second half where he left off in the first, and was only a yard or two away from making it four with a delightful curling shot minutes after the restart.
Bolton didn't relent and continued to cause problems for their shell-shocked opposition as Kevin Nolan had a close-range effort cleared off the line by Dave Kitson and Matt Taylor forced Thomas Sorensen to tip round the post.
The introduction of Liam Lawrence acted as a second-half catalyst for the Potters and he was involved in the majority of their attempts on Jaaskelainen's goal. The former Sunderland and Mansfield man put the ball on a plate for Leon Cort midway through the second period however the centre-half couldn't guide his header on target from six-yards out.
It was possibly the visitors best opportunity of the afternoon although Stoke continued to battle to the very end and did manage to register their first Barclays Premier League goal when Ricardo Fuller stuck his head on the end of a Dickinson cross.
The injury time strike was scant consolation for the visitors, who had been outplayed by their hosts for the majority of the contest.
On the whole, it was a fantastic opening day performance from the Whites who can take extreme confidence from this convincing performance ahead of a tricky trip to the North East next weekend to face Newcastle United.
BOLTON WANDERERS: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Samuel, Nolan(C), Cahill, A O'Brien, Taylor, J O'Brien, Elmander (McCann 74), Davies, Muamba (Subs not used: Al Habsi, Cohen, Shittu, Gardner, Riga, Hunt)
Stoke City: Sorenson, Griffin(C), Olifinjarna, Cort, Whelan (Lawrence 56), Cresswell, Sidibe (Fuller 65), Kitson, Shawcross, Delap, Wilkinson (Dickinson 75) (Subs not used: Simonsen, Pericard, Diao, Amdy Faye)
