Barrow boss Pete Wild believes his side were denied a “clear penalty” during their 3-2 defeat against Wanderers in the Papa Johns Trophy.

Dapo Afolayan, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Elias Kachunga were all on target as the Whites booked their place in the last 16.

The Bluebirds had appeals for a penalty turned down by referee Rebecca Welch in the second half after the ball struck Afolayan in the box.

“It is a penalty,” said Wild. “We can all see it, we have all seen it back. They are the easy decisions unfortunately.

“We have got another set of officials who can’t see what the rest of the ground can see. The only thing that happens is one of ours gets booked, and that is just completely wrong.”

“I have been watching these over the last few days. They are full of talent, full of top players and whoever they roll on, we are always going to find it hard against them.”

Despite the result, Wild was pleased with his side’s performance against “a top League One team”.

“Really pleased,” he added. “First and foremost, Bolton are a very good side and they played well tonight.

“They caused us a lot of problems that we don’t face in our league, so I thought we played very well.

“I think second half certainly, we had a right go. I think it is the best we’ve played when we’ve been behind.

“Really pleased how we have gone about the second half and got ourselves back in the game. I think there are loads of positives to take from tonight.

“The lads have worked ever so hard and unfortunately we came off on the wrong side against what it a top League One team.”

Afolayan came off the bench after Kyle Dempsey was forced off with an injury and made a big impact in the final third.

“I have been watching these over the last few days,” said Wild. “They are full of talent, full of top players and whoever they roll on, we are always going to find it hard against them.”