At the end of a day on which Fulham announced losses of nearly £24 million this was the perfect result. An ultimately emphatic victory over Bolton guaranteed another year of Premiership football and with it millions of pounds.

After Bjarni Goldbaek had given Jean Tigana's team an undeserved lead at the end of a first half largely dominated by Bolton, further goals by Steve Marlet and Barry Hayles gave Fulham their biggest league win of the season.

This has not been an easy week for Fulham off the pitch. Yesterday's news of a record loss came after Pizza Hut announced they would end their sponsorship deal and was compounded by Sean Davis's conviction on a drink - driving charge. He has been banned from driving for a year and fined £600.

Davis retained his place and was full of energy early on as Fulham began at a high tempo with plenty of neat passing and Hayles twice scuffed shots.

Goldbaek, given a rare start on the right side of midfield, made a bright start. But gradually Fulham's early menace and fluency diminished as Bolton closed down and threatened on the break.

A couple of swift moves down the right posed problems for Fulham later. As their grip on the game tightened, Bolton might have scored before half-time. Youri Djorkaeff curled a free-kick just wide, Kevin Nolan looked to have a case for a penalty when challenged by Sylvain Legwinski and Nicky Southall had a goalbound shot deflected off target.

Instead it was Fulham who scored shortly before the interval. Hayles had just hit the bar after a poor throw by Jussi Jaaskelainen when Goldbaek made the breakthrough. Jaaskelainen punched a corner to the edge of the area and the Dane's shot scuttled into the bottom corner.

Despite the efforts of Djorkaeff, Bolton did not look as lively as they had earlier, creating little of note. And, had Davis's neat chip been inches lower, their hopes of salvaging anything would have disappeared even before Marlet curled in left-footed from outside the area and Hayles raced in and finished with a low shot.

FULHAM: Van der Sar, Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Goma, Malbranque (Stolcers 85), Legwinski, Goldbaek, Davis (Taylor 81), Saha (Marlet 58), Hayles. Subs Not Used: Collins, Knight. Goals: Goldbaek 42, Marlet 72, Hayles 76.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, N'Gotty, Bergsson, Nolan, Barness, Charlton, Frandsen, Djorkaeff, Southall (Espartero 67), Bobic (Ricketts 75), Wallace (Holdsworth 74). Subs Not Used: Poole, Konstantinidis.

Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).