Chelsea kept up their interest in the Premiership title race after a second-half revival earned them a win at Bolton.
They had barely looked in the match for 45 minutes as Wanderers dominated the first half, Henrik Pedersen hitting a post and Jay-Jay Okocha - the league's leading shot maker without scoring - again adding to the statistics with a number of missed opportunities.
The home side were made to pay heavily for those missed chances as Chelsea won the game with two goals in three second-half minutes.
John Terry hit the first on 71 minutes and Damien Duff added the second three minutes later and there ought to have been more as Wanderers committed themselves to attack in the closing stages.
In the end Chelsea were able to claim their 11th away win of the season and their first top-flight victory at Bolton since 1954-55 - ironically the season in which they won the championship.
Both sides were forced to make changes in crucial positions.
Bolton were without hamstring victim Youri Djorkaeff, and although manager Sam Allardyce had hinted that Okocha might be rested following his exertions in the African Cup of Nations, the Nigerian international took his place in a line up that also showed two more changes.
Emerson Thome returned after injury to partner Bruno N'Gotty at the heart of the defence while Stelios replaced Per Frandsen and Pedersen came in for Djorkaeff.
Chelsea's problems lay in the goalkeeping position with 30-year-old Italian Marco Ambrosio having to come in to make his Premiership debut following injuries to first choice keeper Carlo Cudicini and second choice Neil Sullivan.
Suspensions for Adrian Mutu and Eidur Gudjohnsen also meant changes up front with Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Hernan Crespo leading the line while Geremi and Marcel Desailly replaced Scott Parker and the injured Glen Johnson.
The widely held view that Bolton would put the Chelsea keeper under pressure in the opening minutes hardly materialised as the nearest the home side came to test the Italian was a shot from Kevin Nolan that skidded harmlessly past a post.
Wanderers however thought they had taken the lead in the 11th minute with a well-worked move that caught the Chelsea defence flat-footed.
Greek international Stelios headed the ball towards Kevin Davies who put it into the path of Pedersen but even though the Dane did well to turn his defender and go for goal he saw his shot smack against the post and rebound clear.
A minute later the keeper showed his worth when he went full stretch at the base of the post to turn an Okocha piledriver away for a corner.
The keeper then did exactly the same thing in the 21st minute as he again pushed another Okocha thunderbolt away for a corner.
Certainly the keeper was winning all the early battles.
Little was seen of the much-vaunted Chelsea attack in the opening half-hour, their sum achievement being a corner which was easily cleared by the home defence.
In contrast Wanderers kept snapping away at Chelsea's back four and they were glad to concede another corner as Pedersen threatened to turn in a Stelios cross.
The Bolton defence continued to be rarely troubled although Thome was harshly booked in the 32nd minute for a foul on Jesper Gronkjaer.
Chelsea looked as if they might have the last word of the half as Hasselbaink and Crespo managed to break clear but not only did Crespo's shot hit the post but the duo were also flagged for offside.
Surprisingly Chelsea attacked more in the first five minutes of the second half than they had done in whole of the first 45 minutes.
Frank Lampard was the chief motivator, first getting in a header that was not too far off the target before hitting a 30-yard effort that almost surprised Jussi Jaaskelainen, although the Finnish keeper did well in the end to touch the ball away for a corner.
Chelsea's next effort came from Geremi but he was unable to get his shot on target, although in the next move the Londoners should have perhaps gone ahead.
Hasselbaink received the ball just inside the area but as he was about to shoot, he was robbed by Simon Charlton's timely tackle. Unfortunately the ball rebounded back to the Chelsea striker but from a better position the Dutchman could only screw his shot wide.
Bolton began to creep their way back into the game by continually harassing the Chelsea midfield.
And when Ivan Campo did well to put Nolan into some space it took a good tackle by Terry to clear the danger.
Good work by Okocha then set up Pedersen but his shot again flashed by the wrong side of the post.
Chelsea brought on Joe Cole for the disappointing Crespo but it was still the home side who kept up the initiative, Okocha this time firing a shot just wide of the target.
Chelsea however showed they were up for the fight and again took the game back to Wanderers before finally getting their reward in the 71st minute.
Damien Duff crossed from the right and Hasselbaink was able to climb above the home defence to head on for Terry who fired in at the far post.
It was just desserts for the young defender who scored an own goal at Stamford Bridge to give Wanderers their shock win just before Christmas.
Three minutes later Chelsea doubled their lead and this time it was Duff who profited from Hasselbaink's flicked header, the Irishman shooting firmly past Jaaskelainen.
Bolton's response was to substitute the busy Stelios with Ibrahim Ba, a decision that the crowd greeted with jeers.
A disappointed Allardyce felt that his side should have had two first-half penalties but claimed that referee Graham Poll had 'bottled it'.
"In the end though we lost because of two moments of sloppy defending and our missed chances in the first half," he said.
"If we can take anything from this game it was our good approach play in those first 45 minutes." Man-of-the-match - Frank Lampard: The young midfielder looked composed throughout and was the major driving force in Chelsea's second-half revival.