Bolton boys look for cup glory
6:52am Thursday 27th December 2007
BOLTON U15s have reached the midway point in their Greater Manchester Schools' League campaign with six points from their four matches played to date.
Back-to-back wins against Wigan, 6-3, and Stockport, 4-3, were followed by defeats at runaway league leaders Salford, 3-0, and a 6-0 trouncing at the hands of Trafford.
Bolton can still mathematically catch Salford if they win their remaining league matches against Manchester, Bury, Tameside and Macclesfield.
But their best chance of silverware would appear to be in the Greater Manchester Schools' County Cup where they will have a chance to avenge that heavy defeat against Trafford in their quarter final tie in the New Year. Bury play Salford in the same competition.
Bolton U14s travel to take on Stockport in the quarter finals of the Greater Manchester Schools' Talbot Cup with the ties scheduled to take place on or before February 2.
They will go into the game full of confidence after having beaten Stockport 3-2 in the Greater Manchester Schools' League earlier in the season thanks to goals from Robert Guffogg (Turton), Jordan Melia (Rivington) and Connor Loftus (Little Lever).
Their cup success is some reward for indifferent form in the Greater Manchester Schools' League.
Having opened their campaign with a goalless draw against Wigan, they lost 4-2 to Bury despite goals from Melia and Chris Blackledge (St Joseph's).
A 3-2 victory against Stockport opened Bolton's account for the season but a Jake Pilling (Canon Slade) double couldn't prevent them a 3-2 defeat against Oldham the following week.
Guffogg scored as Bolton went down 2-1 to Trafford on November 10 but a Loftus goal helped them to claim a share of the points in a 1-1draw against Manchester in their last league match before the Christmas break.