SAM Allardyce put his hand in his pocket on Saturday night to show his gratitude to the team who defied the odds to give him his 100th league win as manager of Bolton Wanderers.

The Reebok boss paid for the first dozen bottles of champagne at the players' belated Christmas party - and he was only too happy to stump up after seeing the way they had beaten Manchester City so comprehensively.

"It was a tremendous performance and a tremendous effort by the players we had available," Allardyce said after seeing Jared Borgetti and Kevin Nolan get the goals in a 2-0 triumph that earned Wanderers their first league double over City since they were Second Division adversaries in the 1964-65 season.

Wanderers dominated the 100th league meeting of the sides, scoring twice in four minutes to take a commanding two-goal advantage into the half-time break, which City never seriously threatened, for all their second half possession.

Jussi Jaaskelainen did not have a single shot to save and comfortably chalked up his 12th clean sheet in the Premiership this season.

What made the victory so impressive was the fact that, with El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Faye, Radhi Jaidi and Jay Jay Okocha at the African Cup of Nations, Gary Speed and Henrik Pedersen injured and Hidetoshi Nakata suspended, Wanderers' already slender resources were stretched to the limits.

And worse was to come when Khalilou Fadiuga limped off after just 22 minutes.

"We're down to the last 12 or so," Allardyce said.

"We had to drag Nicky Hunt, who was ill, out of his bed to put him on the bench because we had no-one else and Matt Jansen, who's only been with us just over a week had to go on and make a contribution.

"That's so pleasing for me."

Although applauding an all-round team effort that kept Wanderers seventh in the Premiership, Allardyce hailed Kevin Davies as "a revelation" after his performance in an unfamiliar wide position where he gave City left back Stephen Jordan a torrid time.

His only disappointment was seeing his highly-committed striker booked by referee Rob Styles for a tame tackle on City's Albert Riera after previously being penalised for robust challenges on other opponents.

"Kevin made two exceptionally good tackles and was penalised, then made only half a challenge and got booked," the manager added.

"That really did disappoint me. I just don't know why referees continue to book Kevin when he makes perfectly good tackles.

"When a 6ft 3ins lad at 15 stones-plus makes a tackle and wins the ball, he's got to go through the man.

"But it would appear that it's no longer in the rules that he can make a tackle, if his opponent goes to ground. But I haven't seen any rule change yet that says that's the case."