By Gordon Sharrock: Bolton Wanderers 4, Leyton Orient 4

(Agg: 7-5) PHIL Brown pulled no punches on the hot-line to absent boss Colin Todd.

Within minutes of seeing his team embarrassed by Third Division opponents, the Wanderers chief coach - in charge for the night - rang the manager with a damning Coca-Cola Cup report.

"I told him I feel let down by the performance," Brown revealed.

"Not by the entire side but certainly by one or two individuals who seemed to take the easy option because the manager wasn't here."

The only consolation for Brown was that, despite the defensive nightmare, Wanderers survived, won the tie by a two-goal margin and can look forward to home advantage in the third round.

"That's the only pleasing thing," he admitted. "The standard of defending we saw out there was certainly not acceptable to this club and won't be acceptable in the Premier League.

"Orient showed us up for what we were, a bad defensive unit."

It's ironic that Todd should be on the road looking for forwards while his defenders were being so severely shamed.

Despite his striker search having reached desperation point, he might be tempted to draw up a new list of priorities once he's examined a detailed analysis of a game that should have provided safe passage to a likely tussle with Wimbledon but turned into a catalogue of defensive catastrophes. Still Wanderers search for their first win at the Reebok and this latest chapter in the story underlined the point that, despite being close to becoming a Premiership force, there is not the depth of talent required to sustain a challenge.

This was not a Bolton 1st Xl by any stretch of the imagination but no-one was prepared to offer the excuse that injuries, whether serious or slight, had any detrimental affect. Keith Branagan, Gerry Taggart, Gudni Bergsson and Scott Sellars - all likely to play against Aston Villa on Saturday - were left out, leaving a makeshift defence featuring Mike Whitlow as skipper and centre-back.

Nevertheless, there was experience in every position yet they started badly and finished even worse. Orient had the first and last word on a night that dealt another severe blow to Wanderers' already fragile confidence.

In fact the Londoners came close to pulling off a shock triumph.

Gavin Ward survived a blunder that almost gifted the O's a 3-1 lead that would have levelled the tie. Moments later Nathan Blake - one of the few Bolton players to emerge with any credit - produced his second quality finish to restore the two-goal aggregate lead.

The relief should have been the signal for Wanderers to impose their Premiership superiority. But, however many opportunities they created at one end, they were undermined by dithering and dallying at the back.

"No disrespect, but any 11 of our squad of 30 should have been good enough to beat them," the beleaguered Brown suggested, "but our attitude wasn't right."

There was sympathy for Brown. Club skipper John McGinlay, who converted a disputed 65th minute penalty for Wanderers' third equaliser, was equally scathing of the performance but insisted: "It's got nothing to do with him.

"He was in charge but the boys have let him down. With the manager being away, it reflects badly on him but it shouldn't.

"We were probably too complacent thinking the game was won before we kicked off but we were fortunate to come out of it with a draw. "We can't be happy with the performance. People paid good money to see the game and deserve better."

There were moments to savour: Blake's two-goal performance in the 52 minutes before he was substituted; Arnar Gunlaugsson's lively contribution, featuring a goal and a cracking shot against the woodwork before he retired early with stomach cramps; and Peter Beardsley's assured, all-round performance.

Wanderers weren't helped by the loss of Michael Johansen with an ankle injury in the 15th minute. But the scene had already been set when Alex Inglethorpe capitalised on slack defending to put Orient in front in the seventh minute.

Seconds later Blake's diving header turned Jamie Pollock's off-target volley into an equaliser but chaos continued to reign in the Bolton defence and Carl Griffiths cashed in when Whitlow stumbled.

Blake signed off for a three-match suspension with a class finish for the second equaliser and a period of early second half pressure suggested Wanderers were over the worst. But Andy Todd's needless foul on Griffiths led to Joe Baker putting Orient in front for the third time from the free kick.

McGinlay's penalty - awarded when Per Frandsen was sandwiched by Inglethorpe and Dean Smith - and Beardsley's cross for Gunnlaugsson's well-taken header put Wanderers ahead for the first time on the night.

But Orient weren't finished and Mark Warren gave the minnows the consolation of a draw when Ward had blocked but couldn't hold Martin Ling's shot.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.