Salford head coach Neil Wood felt Wanderers’ strength in depth was the difference following his side’s 5-1 defeat at the UniBol.

Elias Kachunga, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Kieran Sadlier, Conor Bradley and Dapo Afolayan were all on target as the Whites booked their place in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

The Ammies had gone in front through Brandon Thomas-Asante, and Wood says his gameplan was to try to cause Wanderers problems on the wings.

“We started off a little bit shaky, they came with a high press,” said the former Manchester United youth coach.

“Once we settled down, we got our way into the game and we knew that we could cause some trouble down the sides. So that was our plan and we scored through Brandon – that was a great finish.

“The equaliser, we didn’t set up right from the free-kick and our organisation was wrong. People in the wrong positions, and that cost us.

“We knew before the game it was going to be tough, Bolton are a good team. They have got a very good squad to challenge for good places in League One.

“You could see even when they made changes – they made changes to the starting line-up but also when they made the subs – they kept the performance levels high.

“That was probably the difference – there is a strong squad and good footballers there.”

George Thomason was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Luke Bolton in the final stages, and Wood admits the Salford man was lucky to still be on the pitch.

He added: “I think Bolts shouldn’t have been on the pitch anyway, should he? He should have got a second yellow, so I think he was lucky to get away with that.

“I am not sure if it was a red. It was a late tackle but I think the lad went for the ball. It was just a bit mistimed.”

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