Scholes, in his second game since coming out of retirement, scored his first United goal since August 2010 when he turned in Wayne Rooney's cross-shot shortly before half time. Rooney had earlier seen his penalty saved by Adam Bogdan.
With United dominating possession, Danny Welbeck and Michael Carrick added classy second-half goals to put the Reds back level on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Comeback kings
After Thierry Henry's matchwinning effort for Arsenal on Monday, it was perhaps destined that Scholes would come up with something special once he was confirmed as a member of the United starting line-up.
Had referee Peter Walton not been feeling charitable, it could easily have been a red card, for Scholes' thigh-high assault on Mark Davies was pretty poor in a week when refereeing inconsistencies within the English game have been a talking point.
However, after a couple of cracking long-range shots, Scholes saved the drama until first-half stoppage time.
Having peeled away to the far post, he was perfectly placed to turn home a Rooney cross-shot, which Danny Welbeck had failed to get a touch to.
It is the 151st United goal of Scholes' career, and his first since August 2010, meaning he has equalled last season's tally in just two appearances after abandoning his job coaching the club's reserve team.
It was tough luck on the visitors, particularly their goalkeeper Bogdan, who had performed heroics up to that point to keep the hosts out.
Beaten from 92 yards by Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard on his last league outing, Bogdan got the better of Rooney from 12.
When Zat Knight was beaten to Antonio Valencia's through ball by Welbeck, the Bolton defender pushed his opponent in a desperate attempt to reach the ball.
There was no debate about the penalty and Knight could easily have been sent off. However, as at Manchester City last week, Rooney's spot-kick was saved.
And on this occasion, after plunging to his right, Bogdan got enough on the ball to steer it away from any possible rebound.
The young keeper's place is at risk as Jussi Jaaskelainen nears a full recovery from a thigh strain.
Display
But he must have been pleased with his fine personal display, in particular two saves to deny Welbeck.
And with Mark Davies bundling a Rooney header off the line, Bolton were gaining in confidence, although the ease with which United got behind them explained why USA defender Tim Ream was in the stands, pending his arrival as Chelsea-bound Gary Cahill's replacement.
Bolton wasted an excellent opportunity to equalise straight after the restart when United's defence, not for the first time, got themselves into a tangle, which allowed Davies to race into the area.
He found Ngog but with an unmarked Martin Petrov screaming for a lay-off, the former Liverpool man scooped his shot high over the bar.
This was a warning for Sir Alex Ferguson's men, although there was no immediate end to the chances being wasted.
Rooney was again the culprit just after the hour, when Valencia burst into the box and crossed low to the far post.
If Bolton's earlier effort was a warning, Gretar Steinsson's was a heart-stopper as his flicked header from a Bolton corner looped over Anders Lindegaard.
Thankfully for the hosts, Rafael had not left his station by the far post and, just as Davies had done from exactly the same position in the first-half, ensured the goal was not breached.
United's second arrived 15 minutes from time, with Welbeck prodding his eighth goal of the season beyond Bogdan after reaching Rooney's lay-off ahead of Sam Ricketts.
The striker took a kick on the back of the leg for his pains, though, and had to be replaced by Javier Hernandez.
But it failed to interrupt the hosts' momentum and, after striding onto Giggs' square pass, Carrick curled a superb left-footed shot past Bogdan from 25 yards.
After successive defeats, it was just what United needed as a confidence booster ahead of a tough sequence of fixtures, starting at Arsenal next weekend, which are likely to determine their chances of retaining the title.
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Two goals from our terrible midfielders.
Great win, Bolton a bottom club,but so are Wolves,and they managed a draw against Spurs. No easy matches in this league.
I Think we can all agree that Valencia has a bigger impact on the right side than Nani.
C'mon Latics! Do it like you did to Chelski!
Lets try to keep the negatives to a minimum,Rooney needs to watch how Gerrard and Lampard take penalties he telegraphs where its going,or let WELBECK take them he is starting to look the real business hope he is OK for the next game.
Raphael when fit is the best right back now in the premiership,he was MOM in front of Valencia who were both head and shoulders above anybody else.The score should ahve been more Scholes has come back to Show Carrick how to move the ball he did very well today.
Chico should have come on earlier being he is the best finisher at the club
Total dominance from minute one even without Wayne at his best. 3 points in the bag and move on!
See what happens when centre midfielders play in centre midfield?
If only we'd had a bit more class in that area for the first half of the season.
Scholes now 10th in the all time United goalscorers, over taking RVN. Giggs goes to 895 United games and Fergie chalks up the 600th clean sheet at United. Pretty good day, just wish Rooney had scored to make it four different English goalscorers.
What they saw – the sky falling. How dreary it must be in the negative universe…cold and dark.
What I saw and other randomness;
I have a hard time figuring out some of the substitutions (and not just United’s). Why would the boss take Nani off for Park when it seemed that Nani was having a pretty good afternoon?
Rafael played well I thought and Valencia looked really sharp and JE also (and without one of his usual OMG moments).
Did anyone else have a moment of nausea when Welback and Rooney went to ground after the second goal?
I have a feeling that bringing Scholes back may turn out to be the boss’s master stroke of the year. I’m not ashamed to say I teared up when he scored and yes he did make some silly passes at the start.
Liverpool just finished 0-0.
All of a sudden I’m far more concerned about who is coming from behind than what is in front.
Last I saw Spurs were losing, let’s hope!! Just heard it was a draw, damn.
Gee was that the worst midfielder in the world that made a couple of awesome FORWARD passes that narrowly missed being brilliant? Oh and he just scored a pretty nice goal?
Jan 14 and tied for first, what a horrible season it’s been.
Snowed here over night, I’ve got a fire going and a couple of “other” football games coming up (give it a try ISDEP, they have cheerleaders!!).
Finally, I ask you, who has more fun than people?
Enjoy your day everyone!!
r7
Why do they always tail off in the second half when they feel that the game is won? There were a lot of chances missed today especially by Rooney and Welbeck. Didn't Stanley Matthews,sorry,Tony Valencia,have a blinder though but Nani is still a bit off the pace? Nice to see Scholesy have a good game and score. Would have thought that Chico would have come on instead of Park I just don't see what Park contributes though. Still,a decent win and oh,well played Johnny Evans.
Too many chances wasted by Rooney; he needs to be sold in the summer, along with Evans. Nani must be benched; not a single decent corner or cross from him. Valencia and Welbeck were solid. Scholes, the legend, is back!
Well done boys . Vital 3 points with tougher games coming up .
Great to see players all playing in position , great energy and enthusiasm from the off , looked like they meant business , was getting slightly frustrated that our brilliant build up play hadnt led to at least one goal leading up to half time only for Scholesy to add to his list of important United strikes , get in !!
Rilo
Exiled Droylsden Red
OUR MIDFIELD WAS FANTASTIC,,,SCHOLES' INFLUENCE WAS POSITIVE AND REWARDED WITH A GOAL,,KEEP IT UP UNITED ,,,PLAYED AS A TEAM TODAY,,,HOPE DANNY IS OK,,HE'S WAS EXCEPTIONAL ,,,WITH MAN CITY OUT OF FORM AND LOST 2 GAMES IN A ROW,,,4SURE THEY'RE GOING TO LOSE[2-1] ON MONDAY AGAINST WIGAN,,,COME ON LACTICS,,,,UNITED 4LIFE
SEEMS LIKE BOLTON PUT UP THEIR USUAL BRAVE FIGHT AGAINST UNITED??!!
AT LEAST WIGAN WONT ROLL OVER AS THE BWFC ALWAYS DO FOR YOU!
Lindegaard 7 , Rafael 8 , Ferdinand 8 , Evans 8 and Evra 8 . Valencia 10 , Carrick 8 Scholes 6 and Nani 7 . Rooney 7 and Welbeck 9 . Subs : Giggs 8 , Park 7 and Hernandez 6 .
MOM, Valencia. he should always play right wing, and not right back.
What will the Negatives have to say about this I wander? No doubt they'll find a way to spin some doom and gloom, and will fail to see what Scholes and Carrick brought to the game - calm and class.
Delighted to see (or rather hear, as I was listening to the game on Radio 5) Scholesy score the opening goal. For all the negative comments on here about his return, the reception for him before the game at OT and the fans' response to his goal says it all.
Valencia was excelent
It just keeps getting better...I've got Chelsea and Sunderland on SN (which is HD as opposed to Setanta which in my are is not HD).
yahoo,
r7
He scores goals!!!!!!
Just spotted this bit of wisdom,
"Fergie hasn't a CLUE, Madoc Ontario Canada (13/01/2012 at 15:14)
REPLY
LIKE (3) (his mommy liked this comment three times.)
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David Moyes will probably know how to get the best out him".
Please note: Danny is now in Canada and the U.S. This fella really gets around. David Moyes a better coach than SAF interesting...
Alias, if you want to take a shot at a Canadien it won't get much easier....lmao.
r7
great result. did we ever make it hard. too many give aways in promising positions. once we get that sorted we will go on to win the league yet again.. scholes gave so many poor passes .and bad tackles. against a decent team he will be a liability once park came on we lost our shape. with no one on the left.great game from valencia. getting better each game. my mom carrick.nice steady game lovely goal.cant wait till anderson is back in midfield .with injured players coming back it looks good for the rest of the season.
a real humdinger of a game. i really enjoyed it.
best display by a right winger at united for getting on for 17 years it was like watching andrei all over again 12 marks out of 10 for antonio
best display by a right back this season well done rafael.
brilliant all round attacking game from our next superstar well done danny.
two goals from central midfield what a bonus .
thought i was watching a re incarnation of franz beckenbauer, our young centreback just kept on taking those maginificent marauding riuns into the opposition half well done young johnny it was a real pleasure to watch.
finally had to come down to earth and say what p poor displays from arguably out two most creative players rooney and nani who were both away with the fairies.
what saturdays are all about fast attacking adventurous football to bring a smile on your face on another day we could easily have scored 10.
Really great to see Scholes back but I really feel like SAF is really sticking to his guns and not signing anyone in the midfield which is not good. My thoughts are he is looking to the future than now because I do believe that in 2 seasons Cleverly and Anderson will be world class if they keep injury free and all four young defenders, The twins Smalling and Jones will be a back four to Marvel at, but that is atleast 2 seasons away, I can see us winning the League just about but Champions league would have to wait those two seasons to see this new crop become world class players.
As for the game, I am still worried about our lack of grit infront of goal, considering the fact that, come end of season, the league might be decided by goal difference we really lack the drive to score. Our start of the second half was tipical of this season's lacluster display, we made bolton look better than they were and we just lacked the killer instinct, Valencia could have had 10 assists today but nobody was there to connect with all those wonder balls he kept pouring into bolton's 18 Yard area.
We need that killer instinct back, that desire to just score wether we are 1 up or 7 up in order to win the league and to compite with Europe's best.
ALL I CAN SAY IS GREAT RESULT. JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED. ALL WE CAN DO IS WIN OUR GAMES AND NOT WORRY ABOUT WHAT OTHER TEAMS ARE DOING. ONCE WE HANDLE OUR BUSINESS AND CONTROL WHAT WE CAN AND NOT FOCUS ON WHAT WE CAN'T CONTROL LIKE OTHER TEAMS RESULTS, WE WILL BE FINE, AND BY FINE, I MEAN WIN THE LEAGUE.
Over to you berties !!!!!!
great result but not clinical enough in front of goal,so many chances went begging,nani was shocking again he did very little against city and was non existant against newcastle and today couldnt get a corner past the 1st defender.valencia getting back to his best had a great game.