THE procession of Wanderers supporters marching out of Old Trafford after just 25 minutes was a damning indictment of a team that has lost its way.

Derbies against United, although of considerably less significance to the Manchester Reds, are meant to be the highlights of the season.

Never mind the obvious gulf in class, these are contests that stir the soul, ignite the passions and, on rare occasions, inspire heroics.

But, for the second time in five months, the team Sam Allardyce built into a fearless and formidable fighting force had capitulated pathetically and prematurely in the face of attacks by their illustrious neighbours.

Back in October at the Reebok it was "game over" in 16 minutes as United produced football of breathtaking quality that no team in Europe could possibly have lived with.

Yet even then, Wanderers somehow managed to keep the deficit to two until a couple of late strikes gave Sir Alex Ferguson's side the victory befitting their superiority.

But, by ten past one on Saturday, with just over a quarter of the game gone - the period in which they were meant to show United that, whatever they got they would have to earn - they were 3-0 down and heading for a defeat of embarrassing proportions.

That small but significant number of supporters who had seen enough and left to taunts of "Are you City in disguise?" - the ultimate insult from United fans - missed a more respectable second half. Those who stayed to the bitter end were even rewarded for their perseverance when Gary Speed just about beat Tomasz Kuszczak from the penalty spot.

But, coming as it did in the 86th minute, it was scant consolation and the chorus of "We're going to win 5-4!" was typical of the gallows humour fans turn to at times of utter humiliation.

Even Sam Allardyce couldn't resist a joke at his own expense. Asked if such a heavy defeat would leave psychological scars, he reckoned his players would need the services of a plastic surgeon before they showed their faces again.

But this was obviously no laughing matter for fans or manager.

Never mind that United - even without the likes of Scholes, Saha, Van der Sar and the rest - were a class apart as they took another confident stride towards their ninth Premiership title; forget that Cristiano Ronaldo's first half performance offered further proof that the young Portuguese is currently the most talented player on the planet. Big Sam didn't want to hear it.

Instead, he launched into his players in the dressing room then tore into them publicly in a gruesome post-mortem examination.

He had not expected to repeat the Old Trafford victories of 2001 and 2002, which went a long way to helping Wanderers build a reputation as respected and feared members of the Premiership hierarchy. But he demanded a performance that would restore the confidence that had drained dramatically since they were sitting pretty at the turn of the year and which now puts a serious question-mark over their prospects of qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

What he got was an abject display that convinced him that, regardless of their abilities and irrespective of how thoroughly he prepares them, there is now a fear factor that is threatening to demolish everything they worked so hard to build in the first half of the season.

Ignore the current league standings, the statistics that matter are that Wanderers have taken just eight points from a possible 27 and have only eight games to put the brake on a slide that could easily see them end the season in their lowest position in four years.

Fear? A Bolton team being outclassed by Manchester United is one thing; fearing them to the point of not competing is unforgivable. Hence the walkout.

Because that was just how it looked as Ronaldo was given more space and more time than he can ever have dreamed of in a "derby" against a side Ferguson described as being "very good at making you work all day".

That was how it was meant to be as Allardyce set out his stall to combat United's strengths - selecting Henrik Pedersen, rather than El-Hadji Diouf, to help Ricardo Gardner and putting the fit again Kevin Davies in front of Nicky Hunt to "double-up" on Ronaldo, whichever flank he played on.

But, even before Wayne Rooney out-muscled Tal Ben Haim to send Ronaldo skipping clear to tee up Ji-sung Park for the opening goal on 14 minutes, the Korean had already missed one chance, courtesy of some poor marking and unimpressive goalkeeping by Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The blistering counter-attack that doubled the rampant Reds' lead three minutes later - Ronaldo and Rooney combining in a break from the edge of the United box for the England striker to post a candidate for goal of the season - had Allardyce apoplectic. Both goals had come from Wanderers' own dead-ball situations, which is reputedly one of their main strengths.

Bolton teams are meant to be too well-organised to concede goals like that. And they aren't coached to stand off a player like Ronaldo, as Kevin Nolan did when the man of the moment feinted and shimmied before getting in a left-foot shot that Jaaskelainen embarrassingly failed to hold, leaving Park with another easy finish for United's third.

Yet the way they made life so easy for United, you wondered how on earth they could still be challenging for Europe when they were taking yet another hammering.

Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Spurs and now this . . . all calamitous, defensively-weak performances no-one expects of Bolton Wanderers, who pride themselves in being hard to play against and hard to beat. But this is not the same Bolton Wanderers that finished the last three seasons eighth, sixth and eighth and which ended 2006 with five straight wins and with genuine Champions League aspirations.

Defensively they have gone soft; in midfield they look tired and ponderous, lacking in creativity and frequently over-run; up front, Diouf hasn't scored in 12 games while Nicolas Anelka - having looked the business when he rattled in seven in eight games - is so starved of quality service that he isn't in the mood when the chances come along.

A striker of his pedigree should have at least hit the target when he pulled his shot wide in the first minute and again when he fired waywardly after one of Ivan Campo's long throws, which seemed Wanderers' best chance of rescuing some respectability as they enjoyed their best spell midway through the second half.

Diouf, restored to the attack after the early damage had been done, at least produced a spirited response, as did fellow sub Andranik. But even the Senegal striker was guilty of hesitation when Andranik and Nolan conspired to find a way through United's otherwise water-tight defence.

It was all academic, but at least Wanderers were still pressing when Alan Smith sent Rooney racing clear of the floundering Ben Haim for United's fourth and his fifth in his two appearances against Wanderers this season.

That particular contest will have encouraged the watching Steve McClaren who would relish a repeat when England meet Israel in Tel Aviv on Saturday, but it didn't impress Allardyce, who felt the counter-attack summed up the whole sorry show.