BOLTON took a giant stride towards securing a second season of Level Six rugby with an impressive 32-13 victory over Widnes at Avenue Street on Saturday

The Cherry and Whites ran in four tries to record a third successive win - all against teams above them in the table - in convincing fashion against a side that started the day fourth in the North One West table.

Jonny Stanfield, Rhys Pritchard, Jack Robinson and Ash Cooper scored the tries with full-back Mark Doherty adding 12 points with three conversions and a penalty.

The win stretched 11th-placed Bolton’s lead over the bottom three to 11 points, one point behind 10th-placed Carlisle on whom they have a game in hand, and avenged a narrow defeat at Widnes in October.

Chris Cockton’s side, playing at the highest level in their history following back-to-back promotions travel to eight-placed Broughton Park on Saturday for the first of eight remaining fixtures that could see them consolidate their place among some of the most established names in rugby union.

A run of seven successive defeats through October and November cast doubts over Bolton’s survival prospects, but confidence in the camp remained high and five wins in their last seven games have seen them go a long way towards their target of a mid-table finish – Widnes the latest team to fall victim to a hard-working, well-organised and increasingly effective unit.

"It was a good win for us and sent out a message that Avenue Street is once again a place that if difficult to come to,” said senior chairman JonPaul Hardman, who was among the substitutes.

"We were surprised how many points we out on them, but not by the manner of the victory.

"We were strong and defensively well-organised. The lads take a great deal of pride in making the hits and making sure the opposition don't break them down.

"They are a very hard working group of individuals, but they they also have the ability to strike and score points. When we are in the red zone - the opposition's 22 - we can make it count and come away with three, five or seven points.

"Every game is a battle, as we knew it would be coming into this division, but I don't think there's a feeling that it's uphill from here.

"We're chasing down Carlisle now and we've got players coming back from injury who are going to make us stronger between now and the end of the season.

"With the size of squad we've got we're reasonably confident we can go on from here and achieve that mid-table position we are aiming for."

Widnes drew first blood with a Kevin Leadbetter penalty after three minutes but seven minutes later Bolton forced a close-range penalty from which Stanfield scored the first of the their four tries and with Doherty’s successful conversion took a lead they never looked like conceding.

Pritchard’s converted try stretched the lead to 14-3 and although their defence was breached when Paul O’Connor crossed for the first of the visitors’ two tries, Bolton ended the first half strongly with Robinson scori ng their third on 33 minutes and a Doherty penalty giving them a 22-8 half-time advantage.

The Widnes cause was not helped when they had a player sin-binned early in the second half but they still managed to reduce the deficit to nine points with a Johnny Leather try on 56 minutes.

It proved to be their final score of the game as Bolton regained their dominance which brought a fourth try , scored by Cooper and converted by Doherty, who added a penalty to round off a fine victory.