Kenwyne Jones ensured that we ended 2007 on a high, but we were made to endure a poor second half before eventually overcoming Bolton by three goals to one this afternoon.

Roy Keane made some changes again as Dwight Yorke dropped out of the squad, while Ross Wallace missed out with a hamstring injury, replaced by the returning Liam Miller and Kieran Richardson respectively. Andy Cole came in for Martyn Waghorn, who was on the bench as Bolton named former Sunderland midfielder Gavin McCann in their side as they looked for their first away win of the season.

Prior to the game there was a minute's silence in memory of past Sunderland players and supporters who had died during 2007, with Ian Porterfield once again getting an applause of his own prior to the silence.

With another bumper crowd behind the Lads, Sunderland pushed forward from the kickoff, with Dean Whitehead seeing an early cross charged down, before Michael Chopra was caught offside during another attacking move. We took the lead just before the quarter-hour mark, thanks to some inspired play by Kenwyne Jones, who beat three defenders before setting up Kieran Richardson for his first goal for the club.

Bolton pushed back straight away, with Paul McShane having to deny Kevin Davies, then Nicolas Anelka, before we won a free kick after a foul from Meite - which saw Liam Miller force Jussi Jaaskelainen to dive to his right to push the shot around the post. We lost Dickson Etuhu for a few moments after he cut his head in a clash with Kevin Nolan - who had to go back to the dressing rom for stitches before he returned.

Sunderland doubled their advantage shortly after the half hour, when Kieran Richardon's corner kick met the head of Kenwyne Jones for his fifth goal of the season. After that, we seemed to take our foot off the pedal, which resulted in Bolton pulling a goal back before the break when El Hadji Diouf's free kick from about 25 yards out sailed through our back line and past Craig Gordon in a scene eeriely familiar of the Newcastle derby.

Grant Leadbitter came on for half time, replacing Michael Chopra, but we were put under the cosh as we seemingly fell to pieces - our passing constantly went awry as Bolton pushed forward into a back line that seemed to fall deeper and deeper back as the game wore on. We did have a chance to extend our lead when Richardson saw a shot poked over by Jaaskelainen, but El Hadji Diouf came close to grabbing his second of the day midway through a second half that was nervy but didn't see many real chances created.

Sunderland were at times clinging on, but as three minutes of injury time started, we finally put more daylight between ourselves as Kenwyne Jones turned provider once again, setting up Daryl Murphy to fire home with a left footed shot past Jaaskelainen to secure all three points and lift us out of the drop-zone in time for the New Year.

That was 2007 - from the Championship to the Premier League: here's hoping 2008 sees us stay there!

Sunderland: Gordon, Whitehead, McShane, Higginbotham, Collins, Chopra (sub 46, Leadbitter), Etuhu, Miller, Richardson (sub 70, O'Donovan), Cole (sub 57, Murphy), Jones. Subs: Ward, Waghorn.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Samuel (sub 56, Guthrie), Meite, A O'Brien, J O'Brien, Gardner, McCann, Nolan (sub 87, Campo), Diouf, Anelka, Davies (sub 73, Stelios). Subs: Al Habsi, Michalik.