Mick McCarthy, Roy Keane and the usual suspects may have to look elsewhere for their return to management. The Bolton board were always inclined to give their job to Jimmy Phillips on a permanent basis and are unlikely to have had a change of heart after seeing the caretaker manager oversee a stirring fightback that overturned a two-goal deficit for a rousing win.

For his first match in charge, Phillips boldly made three changes to the lineup used at Millwall before the international break, when a fifth defeat in the first 10 games resulted in Owen Coyle being sacked. Phillips was rewarded with the sort of sleeves-rolled performance that would have kept Coyle in charge.

Informed sources at the club have indicated that long-term control of the team is on the plate for Phillips and Sammy Lee, and the caretaker signalled on Saturday night that both were up for the challenge. "We're both ex-Bolton players and love it here," Phillips said. "Do we want the job? We're certainly enjoying it."

For the City manager, Derek McInnes, it was a disappointing way to end his first year in charge at Ashton Gate. He inherited a poor team, who were bottom of the Championship when he was appointed in October last year and did well to keep them up. He will deserve a medal if he does it again.

After finishing 20th financial imperatives restricted him to shopping in the bargain basement in the summer. Typical of City's business was the replacement of David James with Tom Heaton, a goalkeeper who couldn't get in the Cardiff team last season.

Phillips dropped Zat Knight, Keith Andrews and David Ngog in favour of Tyrone Mears, Martin Petrov and Benik Afobe, but had his game plan in the bin after 20 minutes, by which stage Bolton had conceded twice. City took the lead in the third minute when Albert Adomah's cross was deflected towards Steven Davies, who scored with a spectacular overhead kick that nestled inside Adam Bogdan's left-hand upright. The margin was doubled when Tim Ream brought down Martyn Woolford and Davies made short work of the penalty. Two more goals made it four in nine games for the 24-year-old striker, who had four years with Derby before joining for £750,000 during the close season.

At this stage City were the better team, but after half an hour without managing a decent strike, Bolton were back in it when Chris Eagles, just outside the D in the inside-left channel, fired a free-kick low inside Heaton's left-hand post. Eagles, a forward of Premier League quality, has now scored six in 11 Championship appearances. Goals change games, as the sages are forever telling us, and at last the Trotters broke into a canter. "That one coming before half-time was vital", Phillips said.

Lifted at an important time, Bolton hit their straps in the second half, when their top-tier experience came to the fore. Equality was therefore delayed until the 62nd minute, when an intuitive pass from Kevin Davies bisected the City centre-halves. Jay Spearing, the midfielder on loan from Liverpool, ran through and lifted the ball over Heaton with a deft expertise that had the hallmark of his Anfield pedigree.

It was all Bolton and City could not contain them. Kevin Davies "bought" some unlikely free-kicks by backing into his marker to help maintain the momentum and Petrov, from distance, had Heaton at full stretch overhead. The winner was always coming and the turnaround was completed when Eagles, the man of the match, set up Petrov, and the winger burst through the middle to score with an emphatic shot on the run.