SAINTS' dreams of a swift return to the Millennium Stadium were cruelly dashed at Bolton last night - just minutes from the end of extra-time.

Gordon Strachan admitted his injury-hit side were out-played in the first-half, but he felt they had the chances to advance to the Carling Cup semi-finals.

Henrik Pedersen's 115th-minute strike eventually settled a tie which had looked destined for a penalty shoot-out.

That ended Saints' run of three successive victories and continued the club's run of not having passed the fifth round stage of the League Cup since 1987.

Agustin Delgado made his first start for more than a year and centre half Fitz Hall made an assured Saints debut with James Beattie and Claus Lundekvam sidelined with ankle injuries.

Agonisingly, Saints missed a trio of golden opportunities to steal victory in injury time after a string of great Antti Niemi saves had earlier kept them alive.

Strachan, who replaced Delgado and Marian Pahars with Chris Marsden and Neil McCann midway through the second-half, said: "We were very poor the first-half, but then we made a couple of changes and that changed the game. We were physically and mentally stronger and got into our stride and we did very well from that point on.

"We became a better team. We were fragmented in the first-half. After the changes, we had more physical presence."

He added: "They were the better team in the first 45 and we were in the second 45. As a unit and individuals, we were poor in the first-half.

"We were getting over-run, but that was because we were giving the ball away. Once we changed our personnel we became mentally and physically stronger.

"We can take positives - the way they came back from a poor first-half."

Ecuadorian international Delgado made little impact during his eagerly awaited return to the starting line-up.

"Tino is unfortunate, he has not played nearly a full game for a year and he really struggled for the pace of the game. But we needed to play him because we were short of strikers," said Strachan, who was also without Kevin Phillips due to a virus.

He added: "Our goalie was good, but theirs did well as well. We were just unfortunate we didn't get the breaks and they did. We had enough chances without James. We had enough talent in the team.

"Fitz Hall will be pleased, obviously he won't be pleased with the result but he played well, and Neil (McCann) did himself the world of good."