WANDERERS pulled off a magnificent penalty shoot-out comeback to put themselves into the second round of the Carabao Cup at Mansfield Town’s expense.

Davis Keillor-Dunn struck late on to cancel out George Thomason’s spectacular opener for the Whites and fire up a game which – in all honesty – had lacked any sense of excitement until the bitter end.

Bolton looked to have fluffed their chance in the shoot-out too, Thomason and Randell Williams missing their kicks to give the Stags two chances to go through.

But debutant Luke Southwood came to his team’s rescue with two huge saves from Will Swan and Aaron Lewis, Hiram Boateng also putting his effort well wide.

Wanderers made nine changes from the side that had beaten Leyton Orient, captain Ricardo Santos and number 10 Scott Arfield the only men asked to go again. There were full debuts for new signings Southwood, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Chris Forino, Jay Matete and John McAtee and a first start since May 2023 for George Johnston on the left side of defence.

With so many changes and fresh faces a certain amount of disjointed football could be forgiven. It took Evatt’s side a fair while to grow into a first half played in a perpetual downpour, the grey football often mirroring the dour weather above.

Bolton’s best chance fell to Victor Adeboyejo, Saturday’s matchwinner and showing here his improvement as a number nine who is able to hold up play. Unfortunately as a dull half drew to a close he pulled his shot wide of the far post after being fed by a clever ball from McAtee.

That triggered a spell of decent pressure for the Whites, with Forino going close from an Aaron Morley corner and Jay Matete also seeing a goal-bound shot deflected wide.

Only in fleeting moments did Bolton get their regular passing game going, otherwise the more fluid stuff came from the Stags. Osei-Tutu made one excellent intervention to clear Tom Nicholls’ low cross and deny debutant Ben Quinn a tap-in, and in doing so went headlong into the advertising hoardings. In a week where Wanderers have lost Will Forrester and Klaidi Lolos to injury, the last thing they needed was another man in the queue for the treatment room, and thankfully the former Arsenal trainee was okay to continue after treatment.

There was more to appreciate in a defensive sense from Bolton in the opening 45 minutes, Santos making a couple of vital challenges to rescue some of the sloppier moments in possession at the back, and new boy Matete really showing up well as he mopped up in midfield.

Mansfield had also made nine changes to the team which had bettered Barnsley on Friday night but they went back down the tunnel feeling better about their night’s work and the possibility of picking up a first win in Bolton since 1987.

Eoin Toal came on at half time for Santos – presumably a pre-planned substitution – and Wanderers made a positive start to the second half, Johnston playing a great ball out of defence to McAtee, and Osei-Tutu driving his shot narrowly wide on the overlap.

Mansfield, who had made two changes of their own at the break, hit straight back and had a goal ruled out for offside when Will Swann’s shot was pushed aside by Southwood and Nicholls found the back of the net with the follow-up.

Substitutions were the magic ingredient in the capital on Saturday and Evatt freshened things up further on the hour mark, bringing Aaron Collins, Dion Charles and George Thomason into the game. And within a few minutes of entering the field, all three had played a part in the opening goal.

After Collins and Charles had combined to launch an attack down the left, Deji Oshilaja tripped the latter as he looked to surge into the penalty box to earn a yellow card. Thomason’s free kick bounced off a defender, but Wanderers were able to keep the pressure on, and the same player made sure his next shot counted – a brilliant 25-yard effort that bounced off the underside of the bar and into the net.

It was a rare moment of excitement on a night that screamed ‘early rounds of the cup’ but for a £10 ticket price, probably covered the cost on its own.

Suddenly there was a bit of spark about the game, both sets of fans suddenly found their voice. That seemed to rather over-stimulate Hiram Boateng, who was lucky to stay on the pitch after taking a wild swipe at Matete, then trying to pick a fight with anyone in his path back to the halfway line.

Evatt’s incredulous protests earned him a yellow card from referee Adam Herczeg, and even his punishment could have been more severe.

Wanderers could have wrapped things up completely after Collins had one shot bounce off the backside of a defender, then fizzed another one just wide after taking the ball off the toes of Williams.

Any hope of an early night was extinguished eight minutes from time, however, as sub Davis Keillor-Dunn surged past Josh Dacres-Cogley into the left side of the penalty box and produced an excellent finish into the bottom corner.

Collins was frustrated twice more, keeper Christy Pym making two big saves before Osei-Tutu then drove another effort inches wide.

All the excitement had been shoehorned into the final stages but the Whites couldn’t find another clear moment in the four minutes of added time to save us the peril of a penalty shoot-out.

Adeboyejo scored with his opening spot kick, Jordan Bowery pulling Mansfield level. Thomason saw his effort pushed away by Pym at the same end he had previously scored and the experienced head of Lee Gregory nudged the visitors in front.

Aaron Collins tucked his penalty away well, Elliott Hewitt blasting his effort into the roof of the net to make it 3-2.

Randell Williams was next up, putting a poor effort well wide of the target, which left Boateng – the villain of the piece – with a chance to win it. There was some karma in seeing him put an effort even wider than Williams.

Charles had to score – and did – but Aaron Lewis could still have won it. Southwood came to the rescue with a fine save to bring the shoot-out to sudden death.

Matete’s cheeky effort was borderline outrageous but Callum MacDonald held his nerve to bring up Josh Dacres-Cogley; he did the business, piling pressure on to Will Swan, and aptly Southwood’s dive was correct.