Ian Evatt was pleased to see his Wanderers side return to winning ways against Manchester United Under-21s and book their place in the Papa Johns Trophy quarter-final.

Dapo Afolayan, Aaron Morley, Amadou Bakayoko and Conor Bradley were all on target for the Whites.

“I think in these games, the key words are energy and attitude, and I thought we had that,” said the Bolton boss.

“Credit to them, they came with what they do. That is their gameplan, they didn’t change for us.

“They backed themselves, they had one real crips counter attack on transition in the first half. I enjoyed watching it, I think I would have clapped if it had gone in!

“Against these teams, they are so fast in transition, you have to manage the second ball. I thought we did that really well.

“The scoreline was the right type of scoreline but I think it probably should have been a lot more. But credit to them, I thought they gave us a good game.”

Saturday’s result was a blow for Evatt and his side, conceding twice from a couple of set pieces in the final 11 minutes.

When asked if the win against United’s youngsters was a “confidence booster”, the Bolton boss added: “I don’t think we really need it.

“There were some harsh words said (on Monday) at Lostock because we had real control of that game on Saturday. Having watched it back, just two set plays and the way we defended them just weren’t acceptable.

“There were some home truths told, but for large periods of that game we were really comfortable and the performance was okay. They wanted to put it right tonight.

“We had to make sure we were on it because they are a team who challenge you. They have had some good results in the competition, but I was delighted with the way we went about it.”

However, it wasn’t all good news for Wanderers with Gethin Jones forced off during the half with a ninjury.

“Gethin, we are unsure at the moment. It is a glute problem,” the manager explained.

“There is a possibility it could be a bit of a back spasm or it could be muscular, so we will have to monitor that over the next couple of days and see how we get on.

“The good news is Kyle Dempsey returns to training on Thursday and other than that, obviously the ill lads came through really well. I thought Aaron Morley in particular was outstanding tonight.”