SAM Allardyce's 47th birthday presents, which he unwrapped on Friday, will lie neglected because nothing he was given could match the golden gift delivered by Bolton side at Old Trafford.

And it ruined Sir Alex Ferguson's biggest ever-racing day.

About an hour after Fergie's racehorse Rock of Gibraltar was storming home in a in the lucrative Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket to land him his biggest winning prize, Michael Ricketts was getting the whip out to steer the Wanderers past the winning post at Old Trafford.

Premiership novices Wanderers became the first side to take points off title-holders United at Old Trafford this season completing four days of misery for the Reds.

Not that eight of Sir Alex Ferguson's starting XI could complain about a banging headache from Wednesday's home Champions' League defeat as they didn't start the Euro defeat dished out by Deportivo La Coruna.

Ringing the changes

Only Barthez, Paul Scholes and Juan Veron survived from the starting line-up against the Spaniards, with midfielder Scholes marking his 200th United league appearance by being made captain for the first time ever at senior level.

Bolton, meanwhile, made four changes from the side that lost heavily against Newcastle United.

Those left out from the 4-0 reverse were Dean Holdsworth, Anthony Barness, Jermaine Johnson and Nicky Southall.

Not unexpectedly the first time calamity keeper Barthez was in action Old Trafford held its breath following the blunders against Deportivo.

His moments to atone came quickly, with Bolton testing the Frenchman's mettle for a 50-50 chase and confrontation twice in the third minute.

Hansen and Frandsen both chipped balls through for the recalled Ricketts to seek out, but both times Barthez steamed from goal and made his clearance with determination.

After those early probes from Bolton, it fell to United to dictate the play with Juan Veron assuming the role of gang leader to fit in nicely with the terrace chant taken from Gary Glitters 70s Leader of the Gang hit.

And with Beckham off-duty, Veron finally had the chance to use his specialist free-kick abilities for once, sending a 25th-minute screaming right-footer well beyond the reach of keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Despite the setback, Wanderers stuck rigidly to their system and finally managed to bring Ricketts into the action with great effect.

Premiership debutant Bruno N'Gotty drilled a searching cross-field ball from his full-back position for Ricketts to challenge for on the edge of United's area with May.

Scorcher

The Bolton striker nodded the ball into the path of the on-rushing Nolan. The Liverpudlian kept his head, kept it down and sent a scorching drive curling well beyond Barthez's best efforts for the equaliser.

United recovered and Veron regained command. After 41 minutes he tested Jaaskelainen with a drilled shot that the Finnish international pushed out into the path of Solskjaer. The Norwegian pounced, but he was flagged offside before he stuck the ball away.

It was just a warm-up for Jaaskelainen for a minute later he pulled off a magnificent double save to stop United entering the interval on a psychological high.

It was almost as if that knocked the stuffing out of the champions because they never again looked the slick passing side they did in the first half once they returned from the dressing room.

Sam Allardyce brought on 20-year-old Nigerian Jermaine Johnson and he livened up Bolton's attacking ideas and his confident, buzzing style unnerved the Reds.

Fergie brought on Ryan Giggs and Luke Chadwick in an effort to inject width and penetration. The idea was right but United failed to bring the pair into the action enough to make the idea count.

Bolton sensed they'd built themselves a platform to cause an upset and rather than defend the point they had in their pockets, they went for it.

Brown blunder

And the malaise which is gripping United's defence this season finally gained Brown as a victim when he attempted to collect a long ball from Jaaskelainen in the 84th minute.

Brown miscontrolled the high ball and Ricketts whipped it away from him before Brown knew what was happening. The Bolton forward raced on to coolly beat Barthez.

Fergie may have pocketed a huge purse at Newmarket in a close run thing but there was no photo-finish pay day at Old Trafford to stave off United's first home double defeat since the spring of 1997.

Was United's defeat merely a bad day at the office, or were they caught out by believing their second-string side can defeat most Premiership opposition? Let us know your views