Bolton Mens firsts Lord it over rivals Bury in big win

BOLTON Hockey Club’s men’s first hit a magnificent seven goals as they powered past local rivals Bury men’s firsts away from home in their North West Men’s Three South derby clash.

The man in form is Rob Lord and he netted four goals in a 7-0 win, Lee Rammage also bagging a brace.

The game started well for Bolton who dominated from the off and enjoyed huge amounts of possession as they attempted to break down what seemed like an eight-man Bury defence.

The breakthrough eventually came when a Bury defender stopped the ball from entering the net with his foot and Rob Lord slotted away the resulting penalty stroke. Lord added another before half time through a trademark penalty-corner strike.

The second half saw Bolton add another five unanswered goals, with two more for Lord and Rammage adding to his impressive first-season haul.

The seventh was scored by Sam Robinson in a commanding performance from Bolton, who host Deeside this weekend.

The women’s first also won on the road but it was a lot closer at Urmston where they triumphed 3-2 to maintain their unbeaten start in North West Women’s Two South.

The first 10 minutes opened with Bolton taking control and they created early opportunities on the Urmston goal.

Their efforts were rewarded within the first 15 minutes when Emily Wilkes opened the scoring with a lifted shot at goal from a penalty corner.

Set-pieces continued to be positive for Bolton as they quickly won another penalty corner. This one was dragged in by Yasmin Aldcroft to the top of the D, and Wilkes was on hand to turn provider with a slip pass to Jess Flegg who converted past the player on the post to make it 2-0.

As the first half drew to a close Bolton capitalised again on their pressure with a strong team goal. Moving the ball from defence, before building nicely through the middle of the park, the balls was transferred to the left side where Laura Watson picked up the ball.

She took it wide before advancing into the D and finding a superb finish from an acute angle.

Bolton lost composure and shape a little in the middle section of the game following an injury to defender Kirsten Price, as Urmston managed to break through Bolton’s defensive line on multiple occasions even getting off a cracking, lifted shot towards the Bolton goal which was saved by goalkeeper Nyemh Johnson.

Bolton defended fiercely throughout the remainder of the second half with Johnson on hand to make a number of standout saves as she was called on again and again as Urmston battled and managed to get two goals back.

With the help of Johnson between the sticks putting in a player-of-the-match performance, Bolton managed to hold on for the victory.

The women’s seconds won 5-3 at home against City of Manchester seconds in North West Women’s Four East The hosts quickly went on the attack with their forwards getting a quick penalty corner which Jude Gough pushed to to the top of the D and Debbie Green fired home.

Within 10 minutes of the restart, Bolton found a foot in the D with another penalty corner and this time Gough fed skipper who finished with a straight strike.

Bolton kept up the attacking intent with Erin Turner taking the ball into the D and making City make another foul for Bolton’s third short corner.

It was another clean strike from Lake which found the keeper, but on the rebound she slotted the ball home.

The visitors responded this time and managed to get a goal past keeper Nina Jones.

But in the main, Becky Denton, Jo Tanner and Debbie Nicholson, controlled the play for Bolton.

And they regained their three-goal advantage when Lucy Pickles passed to Denton and she turned the defence before putting the ball past the keeper.

With five minutes to go in the first half, Emily Hawkrigg took the ball down the left, and squared the ball to Denton who fired another strike on target, which Tash Johnson helped into the net to make it 5-1 at half time.

City came out a different team and applied the pressure more after the interval and were rewarded with two more goals but Bolton held on to ,move up to second in the table.

The men’s thirds also faced City of Manchester on home turf and won 2-0 thanks to goals from Daniel Parsonson and Petros Calladine.

The women’s thirds travelled to City of Manchester and capped off a winning weekend for the club with a 1-0 triumph - the only goal coming from captain Katie Bent.

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