EMILE Heskey pulled on a Wanderers shirt for the first time as Bolton's Under-21s were knocked out of the Premier League Cup with a 3-1 defeat to Reading at the County ground, writes Mikael McKenzie.

The ex-England international started brightly and dominated the aerial battles against two young centre-halves, creating plenty of space for the enthusiastic Tom Walker playing in the number 10 role.

Although not managing a shot on goal himself, the selfless forward continued to bring Sanmi Odelusi and Chris Lester into play with his excellent link-up play before he was withdrawn from action on the 63rd minute.

Adam Bogdan and Medo Kamara were the other first team stars to feature in front of the watchful eyes of Neil Lennon and Phil Gartside.

Current cup holders Reading got off to the perfect start when Dominic Samuel slotted them ahead from close-range on 14 minutes, before full-back Rob Holding equalised minutes on the 34th minute.

Neither side could break the deadlock and the game was forced into extra-time, in which Aaron Tshibola and Jack Stacey struck either side of half-time to send the Royals into the quarter-finals.

But the game was not over there as Tom Walker got a rush of bloody with four minutes of extra-time remaining and he kicked out at Craig Tanner giving the referee no option but to show him the red card.

Wanderers took the game to Reading early on as Niall Maher forced Daniel Lincoln into a fine save from distance before Tom Walker combined with Heskey but he fired his shot over the crossbar.

However it was the visitors who struck first when Samuel raced through on goal and slotted past the helpless Bogdan on the 12th minute.

The Hungarian's first save of the game came on the half hour mark when Tariqe Fosu's shot was deflected into the path of Samuel, but the forward blasted his effort straight at the goalkeeper.

Holding equalised four minutes later when he cut in from the right and curled the ball into the bottom corner.

The menacing Walker continued to be a thorn in the Reading defence when he drew a foul at the edge of the box before picking himself up to fire it narrowly past the post.

Three minutes before half-time Holding came close to grabbing his and Wanderers' second goal when he placed a free-header straight at Lincoln following Maher's corner.

Bolton began the second half as they ended the first and went straight for the jugular as Chris Lester whipped a cross in from the right which found Odeulsi in a pocket of space but the winger could only direct his header straight at the goalkeeper.

Heskey's was withdrawn from proceedings on the 63rd minute and replaced by Jamie Thomas The Royals then began to grow into the game and came within a lick of paint away from taking the lead when Niall Keown, son of former Arsenal defender Martin Keown, rifled a shot from the edge of the area which cannoned back off the post.

Samuel missed three key chances inside as many minutes as the visitors began to pepper the Bolton goal, before Stacey's low drive from 18-yards forced Bogdan into a wonderful save down to his right, tipping the ball around the post on the 81st minute and sending the game to extra-time.

It took just two minutes of extra-time for Reading to nudge themselves back in front as Tshibola's deep run was not picked up and he stroke the ball into the back of the net from close-range.

Stacey doubled the visitor's lead on the 108th minute at he drove at the heart of the Bolton defence before squeezing a low shot into the bottom corner of the goal with Bogdan beaten at full-stretch.

A moment of madness from Walker saw him see red as the kicked out at his opposite number Tanner with only four minutes remaining as Wanderers' hopes of a revival were completely diminished.