The visitors might even have headed home with all three points had Shay Given not produced a fine late save to deny substitute Jlloyd Samuel on a frustrating afternoon for the Magpies.

Keegan saw his side struggle to impose themselves before the break and then meet stern resistance when they made a second-half charge.

The 56-year-old had tasted victory in his first game as a Newcastle player and again when he took over as manager in 1992, but he could not complete a hat-trick with a crowd of 52,250 roaring his side on throughout.

But in truth, they rarely threatened to produce the brand of football Keegan is determined to deliver with Jussi Jaaskelainen having to turn away a dangerous James Milner cross and Ricardo Gardner taking the ball off Shola Ameobi's toe when he was handed a rare sight of goal.

After a solid first half the visitors retreated deeper and deeper after the break in an attempt to keep the Magpies at bay and will be more than satisfied with a point on a day when perhaps a little realism returned to St James' Park after an emotional few days.

Billionaire owner Mike Ashley arrived in the director's box having abandoned his Alan Smith shirt in favour of one bearing the legend 'King Kev' as he prepared to witness what he hoped would be the dawn of a new era.

Keegan spoke passionately of the need to entertain the club's long-suffering fans when he was unveiled yesterday, and admitted it would take him time to re-establish the reputation the Magpies had enjoyed during his previous reign.

Just how long that will take may have become a little more evident in his first 45 minutes back in the hot-seat as his admittedly makeshift side were successfully blunted by a Bolton outfit cast in the image of the former manager of both clubs, Sam Allardyce.

Wanderers make no apologies for their abrasive style of play, the very antithesis of Keegan's philosophy.

They close down space, they do not allow opponents time on the ball and when they manage to get it in and around combative lone striker Kevin Davies, they provide him with support from midfield.

Newcastle, with central defender David Rozehnal playing in midfield - Keegan had only 11 fit senior players from which to select after Mark Viduka went down with a calf problem - simply could not break the visitors down in a frustrating first half for manager, players and supporters alike.

Michael Owen, captaining the side as his former England boss attempted to dispel talk of a rift between the two, found himself dropping increasingly deep as he and strike partner Ameobi saw too little of the ball to do any real damage.

Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann and Joey O'Brien worked tirelessly to starve the dangerous Charles N'Zogbia, Damien Duff and James Milner of meaningful possession, and all too often, it was Rozehnal who ended up in the role of ball carrier to little effect.

At the other end, Claudio Cacapa had his hands full with Davies, and it was Bolton who created to only chances of any note, former Magpie Andy O'Brien and Nolan testing Shay Given from distance, although not to any great extent.

Bolton resumed in equally determined fashion as Davies continued the pressurise the home defence, but Newcastle started to find a spark.

They mounted their most promising attack of the game to that point on 51 minutes when Milner ran on to Ameobi's lay-off to fire in a shot which was well blocked by Andy O'Brien, with Stephen Carr slicing high and wide in the resulting melee.

O'Brien got himself into the right place at the right time once again three minutes later to prevent N'Zogbia's well-struck effort from reaching Jaaskelainen.

The Frenchman curled a 59th-minute free-kick over the bar after Andy O'Brien had fouled Ameobi with his side belatedly mounting a charge.

Gardner had to make a fine tackle to deny Ameobi a clean shot at goal three minutes later after Cacapa and N'Zogbia had combined to open up the Bolton defence for the first time.

Jaaskelainen tipped a Milner cross over as it threatened to sneak under the bar, but having come so far, Bolton were in no mood to surrender.

They almost snatched all three points in injury time when Samuel span on a loose ball inside the box and fired towards goal, where Given made an excellent block to preserve his clean sheet and hand Keegan at least some reward.