Argyle's hopes of Trophy glory are banished by Bolton in a one-sided final at Wembley

Bolton Wanderers 4 Plymouth Argyle 0

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

PLYMOUTH Argyle’s big day at Wembley turned into a nightmare as they were beaten 4-0 by a rampant Bolton Wanderers in a one-sided Papa Johns Trophy final.

The League One promotion-chasing Pilgrims were a pale shadow of themselves as they failed to rise to the occasion of playing in front of almost 80,000 fans at the national stadium.

It all started to go wrong for Argyle from the opening stages of the final as goals from Kyle Dempsey and Dion Charles put Bolton 2-0 up inside 10 minutes.

Bolton could have finished them off before the break with the quality of the chances they created but it remained 2-0 at the interval.

However, Elias Kachunga capitalised on some dreadful defending to put Wanderers 3-0 up in the 49th minute and there was no way back for the Pilgrims from that.

Former Argyle loan signing Gethin Jones headed home a fourth goal for Bolton shortly after the hour mark and that ended the final as a contest.

It leaves Argyle with a huge task to try and put this incredible disappointment behind them and maintain their push for automatic promotion from League One over their final eight games.

Joe Edwards returned from injury to captain Argyle for their first ever cup final, as one of four changes from their last game, the 2-0 league win away to Accrington Stanley on March 21.

Edwards lined up at right wingback, with Bali Mumba moving across to the left, with Saxon Earley ineligible for the final after playing on-loan for Stevenage earlier in the competition this season.

Also called up for the showpiece final at Wembley were defender Dan Scarr, who replaced the injured James Bolton, Jay Matete and Callum Wright.

Matete, the loan signing from Sunderland, took over in central midfield from Matt Butcher, who was named among the substitutes, along with fit-again striker Sam Cosgrove.