Wanderers Women missed out on a place in the FA Cup second round after penalty shootout heartbreak against Ponteland United.
There was nothing to separate the sides after 90 minutes, with Ella Tweedle’s early opener cancelled out by Kylie Holmes.
But Ponteland goalkeeper Deryn Hutchinson was the hero in the shootout to deny Heidi Clark and Sienna Limbert.
“A really tough afternoon,” interim head coach Tom Cunniff told the club. “We deserved to lose if I am honest, Ponteland were the better team.
“It’s always difficult to go out on penalties though, especially when the girls give everything they have got.
“We just didn’t seem to have enough, we looked a little bit tired at times and the conditions obviously didn’t help.
“We have a very young team so we are still getting used to this physicality in certain areas of the pitch. But fair play to Ponteland, they came with a plan and deserved to go through.”
There were debuts for Limbert and Scarlet Dearden, while Emmanuella Cambell made her first start for the club.
Cambell and Zara Plano both went close after Tweedle’s opener, before the visitors got back level midway through the first half.
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After the break, Ponteland struck the woodwork and then Sienna was denied by an impressive save.
Lucy Walsh made an important clearance off the line to deny Devin Wilson, before Limbert saw a strike from distance tipped around the post.
When it came to penalties, Plano and Hardman both slotted home from the spot but Wanderers ultimately saw their FA Cup run come to an end.
“Obviously, there are a lot of disappointed people in the dressing room because we wanted to get through to the next round,” Cunniff added.
“But from tomorrow it is a new week and we plan for Fleetwood Reserves next weekend. A lot of new faces around at the moment and still building those relationships with their team-mates.
“Some of them stepped up to take a penalty and that takes a lot of confidence, a lot of nerve. They have the full support from us and their team-mates.
“People had to step up today and there were five players who volunteered to take a penalty straight away, as soon as we asked.
“Unfortunately, with penalties that is sometimes the way it goes and no-one is to blame. They had the confidence to go in there and try to get Bolton into the next round, and it wasn’t our day.”
Attention now turns to the home game against Fleetwood Wrens Reserves in the Alliance Design & Print Cup as Bolton aim to get back to winning ways.
“We will get back onto it and start planning for next weekend,” said the interim boss. “It is a really good opportunity to work on some things this week that we clearly need to work on and build relationships within the team.
“I am more than confident that next weekend we will put on a better show, the players will get a little bit more and we will get back on track to where we were.”
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