CRESTFALLEN captain Kevin Nolan has issued an apology to the 5,000 Bolton fans, who saw their team miss out on a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

Wanderers crashed out at the JJB Stadium on Tuesday night, when they were on the receiving end of a two-goal blast from Jason Roberts as Paul Jewell's men wrote another amazing chapter in the Wigan Athletic fairytale.

But there was more agony to come for Nolan and his team-mates in the post-match inquest, each having his performance critically analysed by a furious Sam Allardyce, whose side lost at the JJB for the second time this season.

"The manager went through every individual player and, rightly so, nailed them," Nolan said.

"We're all gutted because we know we've let ourselves down, but the most disappointing thing is we let the supporters down.

"They went to see Wanderers beat Wigan on their own turf, after the disappointment of losing there a couple of months ago.

"They wanted a Bolton win and now they've got to go into work and take the stick from the Wigan fans again.

"Hopefully we can given them something to cheer about at Sunderland next week, because this was not the best start to their Christmas."

The turnstiles at the away end of the JJB Stadium were closed just after kick off when the stand was filled to its 5,000 capacity.

Wanderers fans, brimming with confidence after Saturday's 4-0 win at Everton, hoped to see their team avenge their 2-1 Premiership defeat in early October and secure a place in Wednesday night's semi-final draw.

Allardyce and his players felt the Carling Cup offered them their best chance of a trophy this season and Nolan, in particular, had set his heart on going back to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to make up for the bitter disappointment of being in the team that lost to Middlesbrough in the 2004 final.

"It's a major disappointment for me being captain," he said. "I wanted to get to a final.

"This was our best chance, but we've just got to grin and bear it.

"We've had disappointments before and managed to erase them by winning the next games. Now we've got to put this to the back of our minds and win at Sunderland."