Substitute Jamal Lowe grabbed the only goal as Sheffield Wednesday beat 10-man Bolton Wanderers to go through to the second round of the Carabao Cup.

The Championship visitors had had the better of things before Xavier Simons was sent off in the 56th minute for punching Owls striker Harry Gray after the teenager had pulled him back.

Wednesday, relegated to League One last season after being deducted 18 points for going into administration, took the lead when Lowe latched on to a cute ball over the top from returning captain Barry Bannan and lofted an excellent finish over Jack Bonham.

Bonham made a good save to stop debutant Sil Swinkels making it 2-0 to the home side but one goal proved to be enough for Henrik Pedersen's men.

Bolton, who went back up to the second tier after beating Stockport in the League One play-off final last season, have now been knocked out in the first round of this competition by Sheffield Wednesday in back-to-back seasons.

The home team gave starts to seven summer arrivals after US consortium Arise Capital Partners bought the club in May and secured a deal which means they will not start this season in League One with a 15-point deduction.

Steven Schumacher's side fashioned the best chance of a close opening 45 minutes but Ruben Rodrigues could not get a clean contact on Thierry Gale's ball into the box 10 yards out.

The game swung on an incident 10 minutes after the interval when Simons inexplicably hit out at Leeds loanee Gray and was sent off by referee Elliot Bell.

Lowe finished expertly to put Wednesday in front with 20 minutes to go and they saw the game out in relative comfort from then on.

They will now turn their attentions to a trip to Leyton Orient in the league next week, while Bolton host Preston in their first Championship match since 2019 on the same afternoon.