Owen Coyle left disappointed after Bolton exit the Capital One Cup at Crawley
Manager Owen Coyle has expressed his disappointment at the club’s early exit from the Capital One Cup.
Leading until the last ten minutes after Benik Afobe’s first competitive goal for the club, Bolton conceded two late strikes at Broadfield Stadium.
“We were very comfortable in the game at 1-0 and had numerous chances to finish the tie off, but we never took them,” said Coyle.
“Fair play to Crawley they pushed on and chased the game, but my disappointment is that we conceded two late goals. We never reached the levels that we are capable of or gained any fluency or cohesion in the game.
“We made seven changes to give a game to some of those who had missed out but, regardless of that, we know we have enough quality to have won, and that is obviously a huge disappointment.
“We wanted a cup run - any game you enter into you want to win, so it’s disappointing that we didn't see the game out. We had put ourselves in a good position with the early goal and it should have been the foundation to see us through.
“Having said that, we felt that we should have had a penalty when Darren Pratley was clipped inside the area. Sometimes decisions don’t go your way.
“Both Benik and Josh picked up knocks and so we will see where we are with them. We will get ready to go again for our game at Hull on Saturday.”