Barrow boss Stephen Clemence admitted Bolton’s “quality” was the difference following an entertaining Bristol Street Motors Trophy tie at Holker Street.

John McAtee, Aaron Collins and Kyle Dempsey were all on target as the Whites kicked off the group stage with maximum points.

Clemence was pleased with his side’s effort after making seven changes from the side that beat Harrogate in League Two several days prior.

The manager admitted that Bolton probably edged the contest overall but was left wondering what might have been had his side taken another of their chances in the first half.

“We have got quite a number of injuries and I did want to give people a game who needed a game,” he told the club channels.

“To do that, I had to change the shape and we only really got 10 or 15 minutes working on that shape on the training ground.

“The boys, to go and play the way they did against an opponent that was very close to being in the Championship this season… I thought Bolton were a very good team and the boys gave a good account of themselves.

“They went about what we asked them to do well. We had some good opportunities in the first half where we maybe could have taken one or two of those.

“They had good possession and were playing through us quite well, but we had the better moments. We get a goal up and then had a really good chance, which we don’t take.

“They started to get on top of us a little bit and you can see the quality of Bolton, I felt they probably deserved to beat us tonight.”

Barrow’s attention now turns to this weekend's league fixture against Swindon as the Bluebirds aim to build on their recent wins against Port Vale and Harrogate.