Fulham boss Chris Coleman was left to rue another dreadful away result, with the Cottagers the only side in the Barclays Premiership yet to win on the road this season.
While Bolton were involved in Europe against Marseille, Fulham had enjoyed two weeks off following their 6-1 demolition of West Brom.
Coleman took his squad to Abu Dhabi for four days and was hoping the benefits of the break would enable his side to finally secure an elusive away win.
However, although they began brightly enough, the Cottagers succumbed to Bolton’s much-improved second-half performance.
Coleman said: “For the first 45 minutes we were the better team.
“We made more chances and should have been coming in 2-0 up.
“The first (Bolton) goal you can’t do a lot about because it came off Tony Warner and Carlos Bocanegra is a yard off the line, and it’s impossible for Helguson to get out of the way.
“But I was bitterly disappointed with the defending for the second goal.
“You can’t defend like that – home or away – and expect to get a result.
“That’s cost us dearly because we nearly created as many chances today as we did two weeks ago and just couldn’t get the ball in the back off the net.”
