Wanderers had a chance to take the lead with less than a minute played when Ricardo Vaz Te found space inside the penalty area, but his low drive from around the penalty spot was very well stopped by Sam Russell.

Undaunted, Boro stuck to their guns and played some neat football, Adam Johnson going close, before a cleverly worked move involving Johnson, Craig Dove and Peter Masters took possession to the edge of the Bolton box.

The visitors cleared, but Boro, with 16-year-old Lee Cattermole looking impressive in midfield, continued to look sharp.

James Morrison, a direct player with pace, made himself available each time a well marshalled rearguard, with captain Phil Gulliver strong, cleared from a much older strike force.

A few years ago Ibrahim Ba was a Boro target, the Frenchman elected to move elsewhere from Milan, but Bolton's Reserves was perhaps not where he intended to be at this stage of his career.

He skipped past a couple of challenges as he approached the edge of Boro's box, but Jason Kennedy did enough to disrupt his flow and Matthew Bates cleared comfortably.

Bates cleared somewhat more acrobatically minutes later when Bolton pressed down their right, but Tony McMahon was soon on the offensive setting off a powerful run down the right before sending over a low cross which was cleared by central defender and captain Charlie Comyn-Platt.

A snap-shot from James Morrison was not far away just short of the half-hour mark but he was a little further away with another effort minutes later. In between, David Wheater stood firm under pressure in the centre of Boro's defence.

Peter Masters continually busied himself down Boro's left which, with Johnson continuing to make good runs, proved to be a problem area for the visitors.

Boro started the second half brightly with Johnson, Dove and Morrison all causing a problem during a good spell of pressure.

McMahon and Gulliver in the centre ensured Russell wasn't overworked, while Bates was always looking for a telling clearance which would set a move going.

Russell was forced into a save when Reda Kribib shot straight at him from 20 yards, but otherwise had little to do.

Going forward Boro played a controlled passing game throughout and even when Dave Parnaby made a triple substitution midway through the second half, as Masters, Kennedy and Johnson were replaced by Adam Clough, Tom Craddock and Danny Reed, the shape and style remained the same.

Bolton, having switched goalkeepers at half-time, made two changes with 18 minutes remaining as Ba and Guatemala-born Dwight Pezzarossi were replaced.

But it was Boro who closed the game looking the better side, Morrison and Dove looked lively, while Reed, Craddock and Clough were keen to impress and didn't disappoint.

The home side had a great chance to steal the points in the last six minutes.

Reed teased and tormented two on the left-hand edge of the Bolton box before sending in a low shot which sub goalkeeper Sam Ashton fumbled but recovered in time to deflect a follow-up shot from Dove over the bar.

From the corner the ball fell to Reed, whose cross-shot only just missed the diving Dove as it whistled through the six-yard box.

Reed completed a very neat cameo performance with a two more mazy dribbles, which only ended when team-mates failed to read his intentions.

In the final minute Reed again twisted away from tackles, but a good final ball picked up speed on a wet surface and just evaded Dove.

TEAMS

Middlesbrough: Russell; McMahon, Masters (Clough 67), Bates, Gulliver, Wheater, Kennedy (Reed 67), Cattermole, Dove, Morrison, Johnson (Craddock 67). Unused subs: Roberts (gk);

Bolton Wanderers: Ricketts (Ashton 46); Whitehead, Gillan, Comyn-Platt, Hill, Ba (Knowles 72), Moran, Kribib, Kangana, Pezzarossi (Buval), Vaz Te. Unused subs: Shakes, Powell, Gibb.

Conditions: Showery

Attendance: 141