WASTEFUL first-half finishing and three mad second-half minutes condemned Gary Bowyer’s side to defeat in yesterday’s Boxing Day derby.

The Macron is rapidly developing into an unhappy hunting ground for Rovers who have now lost their last five visits to the stadium.

But they had more than enough chances to put that unwanted ecord to bed against a Wanderers team who should have been dead and buried at the break.

Instead all Rovers had to show for their impressive showing in the opening period was Josh King’s first goal of the season.

And ultimately they were made to pay by terribly defended goals from debutant Emile Heskey and Darren Pratley in the space of 180 seconds.

Rovers nemesis Heskey – who else? – restored parity in the 59th minute before Pratley notched what proved to be the winner.

Bowyer made three changes to the team that started Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Charlton Athletic as Adam Henley, King and Tom Cairney replaced the ineligible Alex Baptiste, the injured Jason Lowe and dropped top-scorer Rudy Gestede.

But there was no change in the intensity that led to the Addicks being blown away inside 45 minutes.

And Wanderers, who are now unbeaten in eight matches, would have gone the same way had Rovers taken more than one of the four golden opportunities they created before the break.

There was less than 90 seconds on the clock when Rhodes, with the goal at his mercy, headed a cross from Markus Olsson against the post.

Rhodes then teed-up another Olsson cross for Ryan Tunnicliffe and his first-time drive would have tested Andrew Lonergan had it not been for a block.

Unchanged Bolton did not show until the 12th minute when Robert Hall curled a free kick harmlessly wide.

King and Rovers went straight up the other end and won a free kick of their own.

Ben Marshall’s effort hit the wall, but the ball broke for Cairney whose well-struck volley was brilliantly pushed away by Lonergan.

Lonergan, however, made a better save seven minutes later.

King showed strength to hold the ball up and awareness to nod it into the path of the marauding Marshall who suddenly had half the pitch to run into.

And the midfielder did just that before Lonergan somehow managed to get down low to his right to push his shot around the post.

An over-extravagant flick from Marshall then led to a counter-attack which Eidur Gudjohnsen came within a whisker of capping when he turned Liam Feeney’s cross into the side-netting.

Marshall tried to make amends in the 28th minute when he nicked the ball in midfield and slipped in Rhodes, just as he had done for the first goal against the Addicks.

But this time Rhodes dragged wide to the astonishment of the 4,500 Rovers fans behind the goal.

King, however, made no mistake in the 41st minute.

A long pass upfield from Henley was left by Rhodes and the Norwegian left the Wanderers defence for dead.

And, unlike Marshall and Rhodes, he kept his composure at the crucial moment as he rounded Lonergan and steadied himself before stroking the ball into the net.

It was the first goal Bolton had conceded in 416 minutes of football.

But they twice went close to levelling before the half was out as Jason Steele saved from Lee Chung-Yong before ex-Rovers loanee Feeney clipped the crossbar.

Wanderers boss Neil Lennon had seen enough and brought on new signing Heskey at the interval.

And within 30 seconds of the restart the former England international had made an impact, escaping down the right and sending over a cross that Feeney fired into the side-netting.

Heskey, whose last goal in English football came against Rovers in August 2011, should have done better in the 57th minute when he volleyed weakly straight at Steele.

But the 37-year-old made no mistake two minutes later.

The 36-year-old Gudjohnsen was allowed to run and run before steering a clever pass to the back post where Heskey turned in the 13th goal of his career against Rovers.

It would have got worse 60 seconds later had Henley not made an unbelievable goal-line clearance from Chung-Yong.

But Bolton were not to be denied and they turned the encounter completely on its head in the 62nd minute when Dorian Dervite nodded down a cross for Pratley to beat Steele from 10 yards.

Rovers thought they had equalised in the 67th minute through Rhodes.

But his goal was wrongly ruled out for a foul and Bowyer responded by throwing on Gestede for Cairney.

Rovers’ leading marksman was straight into the action with his attempted lob over Lonergan leading to an almighty goal-mouth scramble that saw the ball hit the bar and then the post.

Lonergan then tipped over a flying Tunnicliffe header before Grant Hanley volleyed over when well placed.

And with that went Rovers’ hopes of a point, the least they should have left with.