For Senegalese striker Diouf it marked his best performance in a Wanderers shirt since his loan move from Liverpool and his first goal in nearly two years was the least he deserved for a hardworking performance.
The first quarter of an hour in the first period was very scrappy as far as both sides were concerned. Neither team could manage to get into a rhythm of passing and often the final ball or shot wasn't accurate enough to test the opposing goalkeeper.
Bolton striker Kevin Davies squandered the first real effort of the game on 24 minutes. Fellow forward Diouf had played an excellently timed curling cross into the box but somehow the current Bolton player of the year flashed his effort wide.
Craig Bellamy was working hard for the Magpies but neither he nor fellow attackers Alan Shearer or Patrick Kluivert put Wanderers keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen under much pressure in the first period.
Greek midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos had two efforts in quick succession which he could feel hard done by. The first was a free kick from the left which sailed straight into the arms of Shay Given whilst the second just flashed over the Newcastle crossbar and into the south stand.
Bolton supporters were unhappy with the performance of referee Graham Poll in the first period. The official seemed to be very inconsistent in some of his decisions whilst his assistants Atkins and Burton fared no better.
The Newcastle manager Graeme Souness was also unhappy at some of the officiating on display and for his protests was warned by Mr Poll for his conduct on the touchline.
Much to the releif of the 27,000 plus crowd the second half was to get a lot better. The conditions often played a part in the fluency of the football but both sides seemed determined to pull off a result.
Six minutes before the hour Diouf opened the scoring with his first goal in Bolton colours. A long throw in from the right by Wanderers skipper Jay-Jay Okocha caused mayhem in the Newcastle box and ex-Magpie Gary Speed and defender Radhi Jaidi both used their aeiral ability to set up Diouf who stooped in to score his first goal since March 2003.
Unfortunately the celebrations were short lived as Diouf was booked for taking his shirt off and Bolton where down to ten men as Jaidi had injured himself during the neat build up.
As Wanderers pondered whether to replace the Tunisian stopper Newcastle hit back with a quick fire equaliser through midfielder Darren Ambrose who struck a fine shot from 25-yards which left Bolton keeper Jaaskelainen stranded.
Eventually Bolton managed to restore the numbers on each side by bringing on Spanish veteran Fernando Hierro in place of the injured Jaidi. Hierro took a little time to get to grips with the United frontline but once settled he gave yet another assured performance.
Newcastle decided to bring on French attacker Laurent Robert in place of the ineffective Kluivert but the former Paris Saint Germain player could not stamp much authority on the game, although in all fairness the Magpies did improve in the last quarter of the match.
With just under twenty minutes to go Kevin Davies attoned for his earlier miss by putting Wanderers back in front. A free kick from the right by Hierro was headed into the path of goalscorer Diouf by Davies and the African supplied the return flick for the former Southampton player to hit his third goal of the season and his second in front of the live television audience this season.
Both Davies and substitute Henrik Pedersen had late chances, firstly Davies saw his effort clawed away by Given and then Pedersen blasted over from a good position a few minutes later following a low drive from Okocha.
Newcastle were still not done at the other end and with just two minutes to go Jaaskelainen had to be alert for Bolton to parry away a last ditch attempt from Robert.
Referee Poll added on four minutes of time much to the disgust of the home crowd who were eager to see the full time whistle. Newcastle on the other hand saw it as a chance to restore their position in the game. but it mattered little as Poll eventually blew for time as Bolton secured yet another home victory, not the best performance but a spirited second half showing which showed good resilience.
Bolton now move back up to fourth in the Premiership in place of Middlesbrough who they will face next weekend at the Riverside Stadium.