Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher admits the better side on the day won following their 4-0 defeat against Wanderers in the Papa Johns Trophy final.

Kyle Dempsey, Dion Charles, Elias Kachunga and Gethin Jones were all on target on a day to remember at Wembley for Bolton fans.

Schumacher was left ruing individual mistakes and insists they were punished by a “really good” Wanderers side.

The Plymouth chief said: “Obviously, I’m devastated with the outcome. I think congratulations is due to Bolton Wanderers. They were the better team and deserved to win the game.

“I also want to apologise to our fans, who obviously didn’t want it to go like that. But after the start that we had – 10 minutes in and 2-0 down from our own undoing really.

“We gave the ball away too easily and we were punished by a really good Bolton Wanderers team. Once we go 2-0 down, it is going to be a tough game for us.”

He added: “We said to the players at half time, somehow we are still in this game. We probably should have been completely out of sight.

“We said for us to get anything out of the game, we were going to have to look after the ball better and stop giving it away in important areas of the pitch.”

Plymouth had a penalty shout during the first half when Bali Mumba went down in the box after tangling with Eoin Toal.

When asked about the incident, Schumacher added: “I honestly don’t know. The analyst said it looked like there might have been contact, but that is by the by.

“If those decisions go against you, you can’t use it as an excuse. We won’t hide behind anything today.

“We didn’t deserve anything from the game. A final like this when we have got 40,000 fans supporting us, we have got to take it on the chin and own it.”

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