Man-Management has always been Howard Kendall's strongest suit and yesterday, as arguably his darkest hour approached, he produced a masterstroke. The elders inside Goodison Park furrowed a collective brow shortly before kick-off when it was announced that Everton's captain for the day would be Duncan Ferguson - bon viveur, rebel and sometime footballer.

What sorcery was this? A gamble? Certainly. An aberration, a betrayal of a club's proud tradition? Quite possibly. We should have known better. To question Kendall's wisdom is to invite trouble and as the curtain finally descended on a fraught afternoon, he was a man totally vindicated. Ferguson had delivered a towering performance and scored a magnificent hat-trick, hope had been renewed and straws were being clutched at.

Yesterday's kick off was delayed to accommodate the late arrivals, the commonly held theory being that a high percentage of Everton's season ticket holders had to be forced out of their front doors at the 11th hour. They will be happy they made the effort.

Gallows humour has been all the rage in these parts for several years now and even though the condemned man continues to protest his innocence, the laughter will remain nervous, often hysterical, until either the fat is safely removed from the fire or the empire has been burned down.

Everton's team sheet could have fallen from a Christmas cracker. It bore so many unfamiliar, so many previously discarded, names, it was almost funny. You can only feel for Kendall, no money to strengthen a dreadfully weak squad, his chairman away in Barbados sipping expensive cocktails, nine players injured and the club's most reliable defender, Slaven Bilic, suspended.

Everton's midfield was so impoverished it consisted of three teenagers and Gareth Farrelly, a comparative veteran of 22 years. They can play but they don't shave. There was precious little quality to the football but that was only to be expected for it is several weeks now since both these sides were enveloped by the realisation that survival is achieved more by effort than by artistry. The brighter moments in the tortuous period before the goals began to flow like mulled wine were provided by the Merseysiders even if they made little attempt to conceal a game-plan which held nothing more ambitious than pumping the ball forwards in Ferguson's general direction.

Outrageously simple and painfully transparent though the ploy may be, the rewards can be rich indeed when it comes off. Bolton could not say they had no warning of Everton's intent for as early as the third minute Scott Sellars was required to knock one of the big Scots' headers off the line.

But, Bolton are naive, and the lesson went unheeded; by the 41st minute they were two goals adrift and, no doubt, cursing their own crass stupidity. Ferguson opened the scoring after 16 minutes, outjumping Chris Fairclough at the back post to turn in a fine Tony Thomas cross from the right flank.

It was Everton's first goal from open play in 11 hours and 22 minutes, since they were beaten at Blackburn Rovers in early November. For once, Ferguson was in the mood to party and with four minutes of a rather tepid opening half remaining he struck again, heading in smartly at the near post after Andy Hinchcliffe and Nick Barmby had combined superbly. That should have been that.

A good side, a better side than Everton, would have held firm and run down the clock. They could not, they did not. By the time referee Burge signalled that the game had reached its midway point Bolton had not only restored parity but were actually threatening to run away with it.

Gudni Bergsson pushed them back into contention with a fine header before, just 90 seconds later, Sellars drove in a shot of quite venomous power from 22 yards. Thereafter, it could have gone either way but fittingly the last word went to Ferguson who rose to turn in a third header, again from a Thomas cross, midway through the second period.

"I simply decided that I might succeed in raising Duncan's performance by promoting him to captain. It worked," said Kendall.

Everton: Myhre, Thomas, Dunne, Tiler, Hinchcliffe, Farrelly, Oster (Thomsen 77), Ball, Barmby, Cadamarteri, Ferguson. Subs Not Used: Barrett, Gerrard, Jeffers, Allen. Booked: Tiler. Goals: Ferguson 17, 41, 67.

Bolton: Ward, Cox, Frandsen, Fairclough, Pollock, Sellars, Blake, Bergsson, Beardsley (Gunnlaugsson 35), Fish (Johansen 79), Whitlow, Gunnlaugsson (Carr 65). Subs Not Used: Phillips, Jaaskelainen. Booked: Bergsson. Goals: Bergsson 42, Sellars 43. Att: 37,149.

Referee: K W Burge (Tonypandy).