Alan Cork's reserve side produced a spirited second-half fightback to take the spoils against a youthful Liverpool side thanks to a predatory double strike from Ebi Smolarek.

The Poland international grabbed a close-range brace after the interval as Bolton made Liverpool pay for having Daniel Ayala sent-off on 50 minutes.

It was a game of two halves as the visitors had controlled the opening 45 minutes and had gone in at the break 1-0 up following Krisztian Nemeth's opener.

But Wanderers rallied in the second period to turn the game on its head and claim another three points in the Premier Reserve League North.

After a cagey start, Liverpool had the first clear cut effort of the game when Chris Basham misjudged a header back to goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi. Young striker Krisztian Nemeth was on the ball in a flash, but scuffed his shot from 12 yards out.

With just under 15 minutes on the clock, Al Habsi had to make his first real save of the evening, reacting well to repel a Nemeth effort following a neat shimmy and cross by Liverpool wide-man Vincent Weijl.

Not too long after and the Omani stopper was called into action once again as this time he thwarted Gerardo Bruna with a competent save diving to his left.

The deadlock was broken just shy of the halfway mark in the first half when the Merseysiders' two front men combined well. Bruna played an elegant through ball to Nemeth and the Hungarian took his time before slotting past Al Habsi at his near post.

Following the opening goal, Bolton began to play themselves into the contest and caused a couple of problems for the visitors with a slick move after half an hour. Sam Sheridan played a pinpoint 40 yard pass from right to left, Obadeyi took it in his stride and just as Smolarek was about to connect with the youngster's cross, Liverpool keeper Hansen bolted off his line to pounce on the ball.

Liverpool captain Damien Plessis headed over from a corner five minutes before the break, while Obadeyi tested Hansen with a stinging shot from just inside the left-hand side of the area.

No changes were made by either Alan Cork or Gary Ablett at the interval, as the Whites enjoyed the lion's share of play following the restart.

Jaroslaw Fojut was warned by the referee following a confrontation with Liverpool's holding midfielder Mikel Dominguez before Riga had an effort saved from a tight angle.

Obadeyi highlighted his attacking threat twice in the early exchanges of the second half as he firstly clipped the bar with a glancing header before twisting Reds' defender Huth and shooting into the arms of Hansen.

A moment of madness from Ayala resulted in Liverpool being reduced to ten men as the number eight was shown a straight red card for lashing out at Chris Basham. The Bolton captain, who recently made his first team debut at Sunderland, won the ball off Liverpool full-back Emmanuel Mendy with a tough but fair challenge, before he was sent crashing to the ground when Ayala petulantly reacted for no apparent reason.

Two minutes later and Bolton made their numerical advantage count.

Riga whipped in a delicious right-winged cross and Smolarek made no mistake from eight yards with a sweeping low finish past Hansen to level the scores with 53 minutes on the clock.

A further five minutes later and the Pole put Wanderers in front with his second of the evening. Again it was another predatory close range strike as he turned in a teasing Obadeyi cross from the left.

Obadeyi was rightly congratulated for his part in the goal as his neat drop of the shoulder had completely bamboozled full-back Mendy, setting up his position to stoke the ball invitingly across the six-yard box for Smolarek to knock into the gaping net.

Liverpool thought they should have had a spot kick with 64 minutes gone when Ryan Crowther broke clear, rounded Ali Al Habsi and then took a tumble under the challenge of the Bolton keeper. However referee Paul Valery saw differently as he deemed there to be no contact between the pair and subsequently awarded a goal-kick.

The game continued to race along at a pulsating rate with Crowther and substitute Javlon Campbell coming close with shots from the edge of the penalty area.

Bruna was denied by a fine low save from Ali Al-Habsi as Liverpool pressed for an equaliser in the final stages of the game.

There was the usual flurry of late substitutions by both managers, but as it was, Wanderers held on for a deserved three points.

Bolton: Al-Habsi, Sinclair, Basham, Sheridan, Fojut, Shittu, Burns (Ward 75), Mooy (Campbell 62), Obadeyi, Smolarek, Riga (Subs not used: Lainton, Harsanyi, Eckersley)

Liverpool: Hansen, Mendy (Kacaniklic 78), Scott, Dominguez, Huth, Plessis, Crowther (Simon 72), Ayala, Nemeth, Bruna, Weijl (Brouwer 66) (Subs not used: Bouzans, Pepper)