A late Federico Macheda goal was the only difference at the County Ground as Manchester United claimed the Lancashire Senior Cup.

A close-range finish from the Italian with just four minutes remaining earned the Red Devils victory in a game Wanderers barely deserved to lose.

An entertaining contest had looked destined for a penalty shoot-out until Macheda pounced to earn United their 11^th success in the competition.

Although there was ultimate disappointment for Wanderers, the 90 minute outing had proved a useful and competitive outing for the starting line-up, all of whom had first team experience.

The majority of Wanderers first team who weren't involved in the opening day defeat to Sunderland were handed starts. Lee Chung-Yong, who impressed on debut at the weekend, was given a role on the right of midfield while Andy O'Brien and Danny Shittu was the centre-half combination.

Manchester United on the other hand gave run-outs to emerging talents Zoran Tosic, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck - all players who had featured for the Red Devils' Manchester Senior Cup success at the Reebok Stadium in May.

It was a brisk end-to-end start, and Wanderers had the first sighter on goal through Riga on five minutes. The Dutchman seized on a half-cleared corner, but his swivel-and-shot from the edge of the area landed on the Astroturf behind Ben Amos' goal rather than the back of the net.

Straight up the other end, a physical tussle between Shittu and Welbeck resulted in both players hitting the deck. The Manchester United striker clambered to his feet the quickest, carried the ball into the area and smashed in a low drive that Al Habsi did well to parry. The rebound landed back at Welbeck but the striker ran out of space and the ball was bundled behind for a goal-kick.

With just under a quarter of an hour played Danny Ward, three days on from his first team debut, shot into the side-netting as Bolton enjoyed a bright period in possession. Lee Chung- Yong was at the heart of every attack, gliding down the right touchline with relative ease.

The most fluent move of the half saw a Mark Davies shot well saved by Amos. Great link-up play from Tamir Cohen and Ward in the middle of the park resulted in Davies finding space just outside the area, and after dribbling ten yards forward, he hit a low skidding shot that the United stopper did well to parry.

Magnus Eikrem shot wide from outside the area for the visitors, Corry Evans curled a shot into arms of Ali Al Habsi and the Oman international was again alert to repel a Zoran Tosic effort as the visitors came more and more into the contest as the first half progressed.

It was one-way traffic when Tosic's free-kick deflected wide off Chung-Yong for a corner, and from the resulting delivery, the Whites were fortunate to see the Serbian's cross fly through a packed penalty area without a touch from any member of the attacking side.

Tosic was Manchester United's stand out player at this point, but he was sent clattering to the ground by a rash Nicky Hunt challenge on 38 minutes. Wanderers' full-back was correctly brandished with a yellow card for his ill-discipline.

In the first-half's latter stages Bolton did have two half-chances to take the lead. Riga's dart into area was halted by the onrushing Amos and Cohen's speculative shot from distance was way off target. But as it was, the game was goalless at half-time.

As with the first 45 minutes, it was a very quick opening after the interval with play switching from one end of the field to the other pretty regularly. The lush County Ground outfield was conducive of slick football and when Bolton strung four or five passes together deep inside United territory on 55 minutes, Mark Davies was in the right place to make a well-timed run into the penalty area. It looked for all the world like the former Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder was about to open the scoring, but he dragged his left-foot shot just wide. 

Tosic's night came to an end on 62 minutes after he came off the worst in a 50-50 challenge with Shittu. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took the opportunity to make a further two changes with Craig Cathcart and Danny Welbeck also making way. Sam Hewson, Joshua King and David Gray were the replacements.

Appeals for a Bolton penalty for handball fell on deaf ears when Chris Basham had a close-range header blocked by Corry Evans, and the young defender was in the right place again to make a timely interception when Riga found space and prodded the ball through Amos' legs.

The 73^rd minute was an eventful 60 seconds for Danny Shittu, who after almost scoring with a header, found himself in the referee's notebook for a mistimed tackle on David Gray. Shittu had proved to be a constant threat from set-pieces and he was involved largely in a Bolton move that resulted in Andy O'Brien having a shot charged down from 15 yards out just a few moments later.

With the trophy at stake, both teams continued to search for the all important winner. That duly came on 86 minutes from Federico Macheda.

The striker threw himself at Magnus Eikram's curling free-kick, and after the ball thudded against the crossbar, he reacted the quickest to convert past Al Habsi from close-range.

Three minutes of stoppage timed were indicated by the fourth official, in which Cohen drew Amos into a smart low save, but Bolton couldn't find an equaliser to force the game into a penalty shoot-out.

Bolton: Al Habsi, Hunt, O'Brien, Shittu, Samuel (Stokes 75), Basham, Chung-Yong, Davies, Ward, Cohen, Riga (Subs not used: Lainton, Sheridan, Mooy, O'Halloran)

Manchester United: Amos, Chester, Dudgeon, James, Cathcart (Gray), Evans, Stewart, Eikrem, Macheda, Welbeck (Hewson), Tosic (King) (Subs not used: Zieler, Norwood)