Bolton ended a run of four games without a win by getting the better of battling Crystal Palace in a scrappy game at the Reebok.
After losing to West Brom last week another game against a promoted club looked a potential banana skin, but a Kevin Davies header on the stroke of half-time ensured the home side took the points.
The game was marred by a sickening clash of heads in the 13th minute which left Wanderers midfielder Ivan Campo with a suspected broken cheekbone and captain Gary Speed with a cut that streamed blood and needed stitches.
After that the game never ran smoothly for Wanderers, who were unlucky when El Hadji Diouf was brought down for what looked like a penalty, only for referee Neale Barry to ignore their appeals.
Wanderers started the game without inspirational captain Jay-Jay Okocha, who failed to recover from a groin strain but Sam Allardyce's men were cheered by the surprise returns of Kevin Nolan after knee surgery and Ricardo Gardner after international duty.
Greek international Stelios came in for Okocha and Diouf, who a week ago was booted out of the Senegal squad for a nightclub incident, was preferred to Henrik Pedersen.
Palace, who broke their Premiership duck with a win over Fulham last time out, named an unchanged side.
Wanderers could easily have conceded early on as the lively Palace front pair caught the home defence off guard.
Andy Johnson was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after appearing to be held back, before Joonas Kolkka was brought down just outside the area after slipping past Nicky Hunt.
The Trotters had to re-organise after their midfield pair clashed heads. Campo was replaced by Pedersen while Speed left the pitch to have stitches in his head wound.
Stelios took over Campo's role in midfield but the disruption gave Palace impetus and they caused a certain amount of concern to the home defence.
Speed's return settled Wanderers and they almost took the lead in the 37th minute when Stelios' shot was deflected and wrong-footed Gabor Kiraly, but the keeper recovered to tip the ball beyond the post.
Wanderers had to wait until the stroke of half-time to edge ahead and when the goal arrived it was surprisingly easy.
Bruno N'Gotty found Davies with a long free-kick and the burly striker headed the ball just inside the post to mark his 50th start for the club with a goal.
Palace almost levelled immediately after the restart. Home goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen failed to hold on to Ben Watson's free-kick and Kolkka seized on the chance to crash the ball against the crossbar.
That sparked Wanderers into attacking action and Palace were twice threaten by Pedersen, who had a header saved by Kiraly and saw another blocked on the line.
The match was littered with petty fouls and devoid of any real spark making it poor entertainment for 25,000 crowd.
Wanderers brought on Senegal international Khalilou Fadiga for his debut as substitute for countryman Diouf in the 77th minute, while Davies was booked for a late tackle on Emmerson Boyce.
Palace almost grabbed an equaliser five minutes from time when Vassilios Lakis just failed to get a touch to Tony Popovic's header, while Wanderers went close to doubling their advantage when Pedersen blazed over and Nolan forced a save from Kiraly.
Man of the Match: Kevin Nolan Only underwent surgery on an injured ankle ten days ago but came back to produce a non stop performance that was vital to Wanderers' cause.