LLOYD Isgrove missed a penalty as Bolton Wanderers lost in a shootout at Tranmere Rovers in the Papa Johns Trophy.

The winger had been out of action for nearly a year having twice torn his hamstring, but after appearing as a second-half substitute and inspiring the Whites to recover from two goals down, he missed the crucial spot-kick.

Tranmere had raced ahead with goals from Kieron Morris and Paul Lewis, with Bolton abject in the first 45 minutes.

But after Kieran Sadlier volleyed them back into the game, debutant Conor Carty managed to salvage a shootout with a brilliant stoppage-time strike.

With a few players already out of the building on international duty, Bolton boss Ian Evatt was always bound to make changes. But with the likes of Ricardo Santos, Gethin Jones, MJ Williams, Kyle Dempsey and George Thomason left out of the reckoning completely, the 10 changes made by Evatt were always a bold move.

Liverpool loanee Owen Beck made his debut on the left. He showed some neat touches early on and looks a graceful runner in possession but he struggled to make any real impact on the game as a whole in what was a shockingly poor team performance, in general.

Tranmere’s 4-4-2 gave wide men Morris and Rhys Hughes space to exploit either side of the Bolton back three. And they did, frequently.

By comparison, Wanderers should have had an extra man in midfield. But despite having three competent ball-players in the middle of the park – Josh Sheehan, Aaron Morley and Sadlier – none of them managed to get on the ball with anything like the frequency the game demanded.

Tranmere had already shot a few warning shots across the boughs by the time Morris opened the scoring on 21 minutes.

Sheehan had tested keeper Mateusz Hewelt with a free-kick but the majority of early chances fell to the home side with Hughes driving one shot from distance and George Johnston required to make a last-ditch challenge to block Ethan Bristow’s effort.

Morris had been an ever-present problem for the Whites from minute one. But even he seemed amazed by the simplicity of his first goal since February.

Declan John – playing in an uncustomary right wing-back position – gave up possession a good 70 yards from his own goal. A couple of unchallenged passes later Morris was able to saunter through the middle of the pitch and hit a daisy-cutter into the bottom corner past Joel Dixon’s despairing dive.

Elliott Nevitt nearly doubled the lead within a minute, his goal-bound effort charged down by captain-for-the-night Johnston.

Afolayan injected a little bit of urgency with a rasping shot from the edge of the box, beaten away by Hewelt, but it proved only a brief flutter of encouragement as soon Tranmere would be celebrating a second.

Wanderers were left watching as Chris Merrie found Lewis 10 yards from goal with time and space to slot his shot past Dixon into the bottom corner.

It is fair to say that Bolton’s second-half performance improved. It is also accurate to say it had little room to deteriorate.

Beck made an early chance for himself, beating Dacres-Cogley and making his way into the penalty box, but his excitement got the better of him with a wayward shot.

Bodvarsson also connected well with Sadlier’s header but saw the ball skid agonisingly wide.

Bolton were looking more dangerous in attack but still looked disorganised defensively and gave Tranmere opportunities to kill the game stone dead. Hughes fired just past the post, Arthur Lomax had a free far-post header bounce off Will Aimson and Nevitt scooped a shot over the bar from close range.

Wanderers brought on Isgrove for his first football since last November and suddenly looked like they could get back into the game again.

Bodvarsson and Aimson had shots blocked on the line in one frantic exchange from a corner. A few moments later, Sadlier swivelled to send a volley into the roof of the net, finally making a contest of the night.

Tranmere had chances to grab a third – Lomax shaving the post with one low shot and Aimson denying Jake Burton with another goal-saving block. Kane Hemmings also got free, failing to beat Dixon with an angled effort.

Evatt threw on another attacker, giving B Team striker Carty his first taste of senior football, but the chances looked like they had dried up completely as the fourth official flashed up four minutes of added time.

Then, almost out of nowhere, Carty grabbed his moment, the ball dropping perfectly for him on the edge of the box before being crashed past Hewelt.

Penalties were almost perfect - Isgrove the only unlucky man on his first-team return out of the 10 taken by both sides.

Morley, Afolayan, Sadlier and Sheehan scored for the Whites in the shootout but Tranmere’s five successes earned them the extra point on the night.