A fumble in the final minutes by the Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld allowed a shot from substitute Dean Holdsworth to squirm under his body and send Bolton back to the top of the Premiership table with three wins out of three.
The pre-season predictions may have had these two teams at opposite ends of the league but Bolton showed no sign of following the script that has them marked down as relegation material.
After the clean sheets and blistering attacking displays demonstrated by Wanderers in their first two outings, confidence is high and the home side began well, Per Frandsen attempting an ambitious volley that sailed into the North Stand.
Defending looked a more awkward proposition, however. Neat play from Danny Murphy, the surprise choice in the watching Sven-Goran Eriksson's pack, saw Robbie Fowler gather possession on the edge of the six-yard box; he turned and fed Gary McAllister with Anthony Barness reacting well to scramble clear.
Bolton may only have been out of the Premiership for three years, but their fans are still pinching themselves that they are back, never mind doing so well.
Each home attack was greeted with incredulous whoops from the stands, syncopated by tribal beats thumped out on a pair of kettledrums. After 27 minutes, the drummers were drowned by raucous celebrations.
A short corner routine earned Ricardo Gardner time and space and the Jamaican crossed for Paul Warhurst, peeling away from Markus Babbel, to head back across goal. Michael Ricketts, having worked his own space in between Sami Hyypia and StΘphane Henchoz in the six-yard box, had an easy task to nod his third goal in successive games.
Stung into a quick riposte, Liverpool tore forward with plenty of purpose if little poise in front of goal. Robbie Fowler burst into the Bolton area, prodded the ball around Jasskelainen and slumped to the turf crying foul; his display earned him a booking rather than a penalty. The home defence continued to creak under relentless pressure after the break.
With the ball buzzing disconcertingly around their area and the visitors pushing further forward it seemed only a matter of time before parity pooped the Reebok party. Emile Heskey provided it. Just three minutes after emerging from the substitute's bench, the England striker gathered McAllister's angled pass into the area and swept the ball into the corner of the net.
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Whitlow, Bergsson, Gardner, Charlton, Nolan (Diawara 82), Barness, Warhurst, Frandsen (Farrelly 69), Hansen, Ricketts (Holdsworth 55). Subs Not Used: Banks, Nishizawa. Booked: Charlton, Holdsworth. Goals: Ricketts 27, Holdsworth 90.
LIVERPOOL: Westerveld, Henchoz, Babbel (Riise 46), Hyypia, Carragher, Gerrard, Hamann, McAllister, Murphy, Fowler (Heskey 63), Owen. Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Litmanen, Biscan. Booked: Fowler, Henchoz. Goals: Heskey 66.
Referee: G Poll (Tring)
