EFL Cup: Shrewsbury 0 Bolton 2 - Salop remain winless and bow out of cup
Shrewsbury Town's EFL Cup journey ended in round two as visitors Bolton Wanderers ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.
The visitors, Town's League One rivals, struck either side of the hour in the second half through Jordi Osei-Tutu and Dion Charles.
Paul Hurst's men were in the game at 0-0 but defensive errors from Aaron Pierre were punished for the goals.
On a night of few positives there was a lively Town debut for new Chelsea loan recruit Leo Castledine - and substitute defender George Nurse made his first appearance since September 2022 following two ACL injuries.
Hurst handed exciting recruit Castledine from Chelsea a full debut in from the off and he was one of three changes from Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield. The teenager caught the eye in an energetic display.
On-loan winger Charles Sagoe Jr also came into the side, as did defender Morgan Feeney. Tommi O'Reilly, Jordan Shipley and Toto Nsiala were among the substitutes.
Ian Evatt made six changes to the Bolton side who lost for the first time in the League One season on Saturday at Charlton.
The visitors settled much the brighter and peppered efforts at goalkeeper Toby Savin in the opening exchanges. The Town keeper saved well low down from Kyle Dempsey with his feet before he kept hold of skipper Ricardo Santos' header with a routine save.
Bolton were inches from a lead as Scott Arfield cracked the post after neat work from George Thomason.
There might've been some respite as busy new boy Castledine had the ball in the visitors' net but for an offside flag. Arfield fired narrowly over shortly afterwards.
Town found their feet in the midpoint of the half as Tom Bloxham helped Hurst's men gain some yards and right-back Luca Hoole fired over when cutting in left-footed.
The hosts impressed past the half hour. A well-concocted move down the right between Bloxham and Hoole saw the latter's pinpoint cross met by John Marquis. The striker's powerful downward header was parried by Luke Southwood.
The resulting corner was half-cleared and Castledine's pure volley was heading in before a deflection sent it behind.
The returning Feeney, playing at centre-half for the first time in a lengthy period, made a stunning goalline clearance shortly before the break to keep out Dempsey's close-range header.
Star striker Dion Charles had been quiet but burst in beyond either side of the interval and saw one effort fly across goal and another crash into the near-side netting.
Bolton looked bright early in the second half and the pressure told - but via a poor Pierre error.
A low cross looked well dealt with by Pierre, but the defender inexplicably attempted to dribble out of his six-yard box, lost the ball and Osei-Tutu hammered low into the far corner.
Hurst's men could muster little in a way of response before they found themselves two down with 25 minutes left.
Pierre was unable to clear Town's lines from the left and the ball deflected to Charles in the box. The striker thrashed a lethal finish into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
Savin made a fine one-handed stop to deny ex-Town youngster John McAtee a third for Bolton.
Town did little to trouble the Trotters' rearguard but there was a nice moment in the closing stages as George Nurse made his return from injury to play for the first time in almost two years.
Shrewsbury Town (4-2-3-1): Savin; Hoole, Feeney, Pierre, Benning (Nurse, 83); Winchester (c) (Biggins, 56), Perry; Bloxham (O'Reilly, 77), Castledine (Shipley, 83), Sagoe Jr; Marquis (Lloyd, 77).
Subs not used: Young, Nsiala.
Bolton Wanderers (3-4-3): Southwood; Forino, Santos (c), Johnston; Osei-Tutu (Schon, 72), Thomason (Sharples, 90+2), Matete (Sheehan, 72), Dacres-Cogley; Arfield (McAtee, 59), Dempsey; Charles (Collins, 72).
Subs not used: Coleman, Andreucci, Weston, Matheson.
Attendance: 3,220 (706 Bolton fans)
Referee: Sunny Singh Gill
