'Open us up at will' - Crewe Alex boss gives Bolton Wanderers assessment after 4-1 loss

Crewe Alex boss Alex Morris felt Bolton Wanderers were able to open his side up at will in the closing stages of their encounter in the Papa Johns Trophy as the Whites' squad strength in depth came to the fore.

In Group B of the Northern section of the draw, Wanderers took the lead early on through Amadou Bakayoko. However, the Railwaymen drew level not long after through Courtney Baker-Richardson.

Wanderers went ahead after the break thanks to Dion Charles, before Kieran Sadlier added a third with a classy finish. Charles added his second and Bolton's fourth before the end to ensure a 4-1 win.

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Wanderers were able to summon strong reinforcements from the bench. Charles, Elias Kachunga, Ricardo Santos, Conor Bradley and MJ Williams all made an appearance after the hour mark.

Morris felt his side did well to stay in the game for as long as they did, but pointed to Bolton's strength in depth off the bench. He was disappointed the scoreline got away from the Alex in the end which halted their chance of perhaps nicking a goal and taking the match to penalties.

Morris said: "It was a tough night all round. It was a tough game and we rode our luck up until the poins at which we were one each and we did ever so well to get to one each because obviously we weren't playing our strongest 11. We got to the stage midway through that second half 60 minutes in where they brought on another five first teamers and by the end their first 11 was their starting 11.

"We had players who had not played much football who haven't been selected to start for our team this season all out on the pitch together up against a good League One