Blackburn 4 Bolton 1:THE OBJECTIVE for Bolton Wanderers is Premier League safety but recent travels have only established a persecution complex instead. Bloodied and bruised by Spanish police in Madrid on Thursday, the club's weary followers yesterday pinpointed the referee Mark Clattenburg for a derby defeat which in fact illustrated why their fight to avoid relegation is likely to drag on to the wire. Responsibility for a self-inflicted downfall cannot be ignored.

Physically and psychologically this has been an exhausting week for Bolton and it proved more than a slender squad could handle as Blackburn Rovers, fit and refreshed after a training break in Orlando, inflicted the second-heaviest defeat of Gary Megson's reign.

The excuses for an unmerited scoreline were extensive and occasionally genuine, beginning with the ludicrous penalty decision that enabled Benni McCarthy to open the scoring. Having already disallowed a Grzegorz Rasiak goal - and rightly so - Clattenburg was the target of Bolton's ire afterwards as their players applauded the away section as though toasting a moral victory.

The Teesside official has endured a season as troubled as Bolton's, as David Moyes and Alex Ferguson would both gladly testify, but it was too convenient to lay the blame entirely on him.

Bolton recovered impressively from that first penalty, awarded when right-back Gretar Steinsson was judged to have tripped David Dunn when he had clearly played the ball. Level through Kevin Davies's poacher's finish, they were dominant, driven and penetrating in the second half before Gary Cahill inexplicably clattered through the back of Roque Santa Cruz and gave the referee no choice but to point to the spot again. McCarthy made no mistake with the sixth penalty Bolton have conceded against Blackburn in the past four meetings.

David Bentley scored with a rare header to make the match safe for Mark Hughes's men and, with the final kick of the game, Morten Gamst Pedersen tapped in after good work by the substitute Jason Roberts.

This was Blackburn's first league double over their local rivals since the 1963-64 season, but of more interest to Hughes is qualification for the Uefa Cup, a task complicated by Tottenham's victory in the League Cup final.