Bolton Wanderers' push for a place in the Champions League gathered pace with a 3-2 home win against Portsmouth this afternoon.
Sam Allardyce's side won for a fifth match in a row as Abdoulaye Faye, Ivan Campo and Nicolas Anelka scored after Matt Taylor had given Portsmouth an early lead. Andy Cole pulled one back in the last minute but it wasn't enough for the visitors to salvage a point.
Bolton's victory lifted them into third place ahead of Arsenal's trip to Sheffield United in Saturday's late match and Allardyce must be starting to believe he can lead his side into European football's elite club competition.
Portsmouth had travelled to the Reebok Stadium hoping to climb above Bolton into the top four, but instead a first defeat in seven matches dented the European ambitions of Harry Redknapp's side.
With Portsmouth hampered by a series of injuries to key players including Lomana LuaLua and Nwankwo Kanu, Redknapp gave a first Premiership start of the season to Cole.
The former England striker has been injury-plagued since his pre-season move from Manchester City, but he quickly made up for lost time.
Cole's astute pass after just 71 seconds sent Taylor clear and the midfielder drove in his fifth goal in six matches.
Bolton captain Kevin Nolan led his side's response with a fierce shot that was deflected to safety before Kevin Davies shot wide moments later.
David James is capable of inspired saves and catastrophic mistakes in equal measure and the Portsmouth goalkeeper produced one of the latter to hand Bolton an equaliser in the 30th minute.
Gary Speed whipped in a corner that James opted to try and punch clear but he mistimed his effort completely and sent the ball looping into the air for Faye to head home from close range.
Taylor then came close to restoring Portsmouth's lead with a free-kick that flashed just wide, but Bolton were starting to impose their high-tempo style on the visitors and reaped the rewards in the 40th minute.
Tal Ben Haim crossed to Davies and the striker's header was brilliantly stopped by James, only for Campo to render his efforts redundant as the Spaniard pounced to tap-in from close range.
Cole should have brought Portsmouth back into it on the stroke of half-time but his shot was too close to Jussi Jaaskelainen and the Bolton 'keeper was able to push it out.
That miss proved costly for Redknapp's side as Bolton increased their lead in the 62nd minute thanks in part to another James mistake.
Davies crossed from the right and Sol Campbell's weak clearance was fumbled by James to Anelka, who calmly rolled in his fifth goal in five matches.
Cole gave Portsmouth brief hope of a dramatic revival with a last minute strike, but it was too little too late as Bolton held on.
