Crystal Palace 2 Bolton 1: Christian Benteke comes off the bench to give Sam Allardyce first Palace win
Bolton take the lead but Benteke comes good with two goals in nine minutes to seal FA Cup fourth round date with Man City
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE came off the bench to rescue Crystal Palace after underdogs Bolton had taken a surprise lead at a sparsely-filled Selhurst Park.
A crowd of just 7,149 saw James Henry fired the Division One side ahead to prompt Sam Allardyce to turn to his top scorer.
Benteke duly obliged with strikes in the 68th and 77th minutes to give Big Sam his first win as the Eagles' manager.
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First the former Liverpool striker planted home a header from Mathieu Flamini's cross.
Then he fed off Andros Townsend to fire home an unstoppable right-footer to earn a home fourth round date with Manchester City.
Palace, with Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako away at the Africa Cup of Nations, fielded a second string line-up, consolidated by Benteke, Yohan Cabaye and Jason Puncheon on the bench.
But they were knocked sideways in the 48th minute when Henry fired a left-footer into the top corner of Julian Speroni's net to put the Trotters ahead.
Fifteen minutes later boss Allardyce took top scorer Benteke from the bench to replace the ineffective Loic Remy in a bid to find an equaliser.
And it worked.
A turgid first half saw Bolton go close with Josh Vela drilling a shot wide from 25 yards after good play from Zach Clough.
Palace's first chance of the night saw Sullay Kaikai volley wide, while Townsend had a shot saved in the 40th minute at the other end.
Bolton defender David Wheater has been in the goals of late and the centre-back was looking for more glory with a decent drive just over the top.
