WANDERERS bowed out of the Carabao Cup to Aston Villa… but with heads held high.

For 36 glorious minutes it looked like we might have a cup upset to rival the White Hot years, as Dion Charles’s strike separated the sides.

Bolton were well worth the lead but once Douglas Luiz brought his team level with a freakish goal direct from a corner, the Premier League men flexed their muscles in the second half.

There was a sense of injustice about Danny Ings’ penalty which provided the lead, not so some of the later goals which made the margin of victory more than secure for Steven Gerrard’s side.

Evatt said in the build-up to the game he had planned his line-up regardless of the result against Sheffield Wednesday but one wonders if he did so thinking Villa would play effectively their full-strength line-up?

Joel Dixon, Declan John, Charles, Kieran Lee, Will Aimson and Elias Kachunga freshened up the side beaten at the weekend. All eyes, however, were on the household names starting for Gerrard.

In all, some £235million in transfer fees were put out for a Carabao Cup second-round tie. Insurance against a mishap? Perhaps. Respect for the opposition? Maybe.

Either way, any bravado which was bouncing around the Fan Zone prior to kick off would have diminished slightly when the line-ups were read out. Villa certainly were not messing around.

Nor, thankfully, were Bolton. They matched their top flight opponents for tempo from the off, pressing high, playing out from the back, refusing to take a backward step.

Of course, they always had to keep one eye on the roaming Phillippe Couitnho, or the darting runs of Ings and Ollie Watkins, but for most of the first half, the men in white asked the questions.

Ricardo Santos had come in for criticism after his mistake against Wednesday – some of it rather heavy-handed in this writer’s view. His response was encouraging, helped, no doubt, by an early crunching challenge on Coutinho which brought a guttural roar from the Bolton support.

Evatt’s side – of which only one of the starting line-up cost a transfer fee – looked sharp around the Villa penalty box too. Kachunga drove a low shot agonisingly wide, with Emiliano Martinez beaten, and John stung the keeper’s palms after another neat move down the left.

Villa did have the ball in the net twice, only for the linesman to flag offside. Ings’ close-range tap in looked a marginal call.

Coutinho continued to nibble. Dixon had the role of sweeper keeper down to a tee as he rushed off his line a few times to mop up anything played behind the back three. One save at the feet of Watkins shortly before Ings’ offside finish was especially smart.

And then it happened. Dapo Afolayan and Lee executed the high press to a tee, nicking the ball from Luiz before the latter rolled a pass for Charles to slot home.

Gerrard fidgeted uncomfortably on the edge of his technical area, arms folded. This was not in the plan.

Wanderers were not able to dominate possession in the way they normally do – but they hunted and tracked with energy, nowhere more so than on the wings, where Conor Bradley and John were excellent.

When Villa drew level, it felt undeserved. Dixon had already been penned in at one corner, this time he could only watch from behind a barrage of bodies as the curling cross dropped inside the far post.

The reaction from both the home crowd and Evatt’s side was positive. They finished the half strong, Kachunga heading straight at Sanchez after more good work from Bradley and Afolayan. As the players walked in, anything still seemed possible.

The second half was more anchored in cold, hard reality. John went close with a free kick just after the restart but Villa slowly got a grip on the game that they would not relinquish.

Lucas Digne began to pin the Whites – and crucially, Bradley – back. And with Coutinho still omnipresent in the final third of the pitch, it wasn’t long before the Premier League men started to break through with regularity.

Watkins hit the base of the post having sprung the offside trap. Ings then did the same, only to be felled by Dixon, prompting referee Andrew Kitchen to point to the spot.

Replays showed it was a tight offside call. But, as per norm at the UniBol, there was no VAR in sight when you needed it.

Ings showed no mercy with the penalty and just a couple of minutes later the tie was effectively settled, Digne again bursting down the left before beating Dixon with a deft finish at his near post. You worried for Wanderers at that moment. With 25 minutes left to play it could have been a procession from there – but to their credit, they continued to work until there was nothing left to give.

Santos produced another crowd pleasing challenge on sub Leon Bailey, Bradley resumed his endlessly enthusiastic running, Williams tackled anything that fell into his range. Charles, in his first start since the opening weekend against Ipswich, also buzzed around to the bitter end. The effort told, eventually. Tired minds and bodies began to offer up more space in the closing stages, retreating to allow sub Leon Bailey to score an impressive solo goal in the last few minutes.

A landslide would have been unjust. And Wanderers deserved the applause they were afforded as they walked off the pitch at the end. Beaten, yes, but the real business lies ahead.