The Wembley wait goes on for Accrington Stanley after falling at the final hurdle against Bolton Wanderers at the Wham Stadium.

Stanley had to play more than two thirds of the game with 10 men after Sean McConville was shown a straight red card for a foul on Conor Bradley.

They held firm until the 81st minute, but quickfire goals from Elias Kachunga and Aaron Morley mean it is Wanderers who will line up against Plymouth Argyle in the Papa John’s Trophy final at Wembley in April.

A Stanley squad besieged by injury battled hard, a tough task made harder by seeing one of their key men sent off in the first half.

The turning point in the tie then came at the midway stage of the first half, with the experienced McConville shown a straight red card for a challenge that caught Bradley on the inside of the knee.

Stanley were therefore a man down, but could have been a goal down prior to that. Ex-Stanley striker Dion Charles broke the offside trap in the 15th minute to run onto a Ricardo Santos pass, but Lukas Jensen stood tall and diverted the effort wide with an outstretched leg.

Liverpool loanee Bradley was in the thick of the action, with Aaron Pressley and Liam Coyle also carded for fouls on the wing-back who also had an effort well blocked when found on the edge of the box.

The task for the visitors was to try and break through the Stanley resistance, with John Coleman’s side putting their bodies on the line, not least Seamus Conneely who took a Santos thunderbolt flush in the face just before the break.

A sickening collision between Trafford and Coyle meant a stoppage of around eight minutes shortly after the restart.

Goalkeeper Trafford was booked for the initial challenge, with the Stanley midfielder leaving the pitch on a stretcher after extensive treatment.

No sooner had play restarted than Bolton thought they had taken the lead.

Charles tapped into an empty net, only for his celebrations to be chalked off, having been flagged offside when turning in Bradley’s square ball.

Then, from inside the six-yard box, Kieran Lee turned his effort wide of the target when found by Aaron Morley.

The Stanley goal was leading a charmed life, with Charles hitting the crossbar and the post, while Jensen denied Declan John, all within the same passage of play.

It was a remarkable series of escapes for Stanley who were having to withstand heavy pressure.

Stanley were battling to take the game into penalties, but Bolton finally found a way through with 81 minutes on the watch. It required the bounce of the ball to go in their favour, as Gethin Jones’ cross dropped kindly for Kachunga whose snap-shot found the roof of the net.

No sooner had the visitors broken through than they found a second within three minutes as Morley had the presence of mind, following a scramble in the box, to pick his spot from 20 and bend a shot out of reach of Jensen and into the corner.

Stanley’s attentions now return to keeping their heads above water in the scramble to stay in League One.

Stanley: Jensen, Fernandes, Rodgers, Sangare, Longelo, Coyle (Martin 58), Conneely (Mancini, 90), Leigh (Woods, 90), McConville, Whalley (Clark, 75), Pressley (Adeyoka, 90)

Subs: Isherwood, Nolan