An early half-chance for Nigeria came in the form of a well-struck shot from John Obi Mikel who managed to wrap his foot around a loose ball to force a good save from Kennedy Mweene.
Soon after, Nderim Nedzipi's well-hit shot forced a hurried save from Jaaskelainen and Bolton were fortunate that neither of the two Rabotnicki players closing in could get a foot to the loose ball to turn in the rebound.
Anelka flicked on a long ball, which Malouda ran on to only to have his shot blocked before Cole pounced on the loose ball and scored with a right foot shot.
The 6-foot junior guard went diving past photographers in pursuit of a loose ball less than 2 minutes in and crashed hard into the basket support when he was fouled on a fast-break dunk attempt.
Liverpool's winner spun off the foot of Fulham's Pantsil as he attempted to clear a loose ball and the defeat leaves Fulham only four points above the relegation zone.