BOLTON produced a strong, although far from faultless performance, to win a close encounter in their second away fixture of the season in what is shaping up to be a hard-fought division.

Games against Old Bedians have traditonally been closely-contested and this was no exception with Bolton narrowly ahead at half time thanks to a Lovgreen penalty.

The Didsbury side hit back after the interval, scoring an unconverted interception try but Lovgreen, who became more influential as the game wore on, was on target twice more, landing a second penalty to edge Bolton ahead once more then converting Smith’s try that proved decisive.

Bolton started briskly but endured a nervous 15-minute spell when the Bedians pack enjoyed a good spell of pressure.

Good work at the lineouts saw Cooper and Ormes working well as Bolton moved the ball well, but they failed to capitalise while often being frustrated by poor decisions by the referee. Pritchard was positionally sound, and again offered options in the attacking line.

Bedians missed a chance to take the lead when their kicker hit the crossbar with a simple penalty, a mistake that was punished when Bolton were awarded a penalty for stamping at the ruck and Lovgreen was on target from 40 metres.

The game rose in intensity but often petered out in the final third of the pitch. Bolton’s back row of Brogan, Brodie and Sutcliffe again worked relentlessly and were well marshalled by Singleton while Parrish and Cockton did sterling work in the rucks.

Bolton dominated the second half but last pass errors cost them opportunties to stretch their lead before Bedians broke away for the first try of the game.

Bolton played their key period of the game at the right time. Cooper made some big hits in midfield, as did the back row and, allied to Lovgreen’s tactical kicking, they regained their dominance.

The lead from Lovgreen’s second penalty was no more than Bolton deserved and when Beasley crashed through the Bedians back row at a line-out it paved the way for Smith to score under the posts. With Lovgreen calling the shots the visitors were in control from then on.

Bolton travel to Barrow this weekend to take on a strong Hawcoat Park.

Bolton 2nds played host to newly-promoted Upper Eden from Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria and narrowly lost by 24-29. Positives included a try from Ryan Wignall and several impressive kicks by Danny Barlow.

The Thirds were beaten 40-12 at Fylde in a well-contested game in which the score did not match the amount of effort put in.

Bolton’s fourth team bounced back after their narrow defeat by local rivals Aspull, a hat-trick of tries from McGrath helping them to a 37-5 victory over Preston Grasshoppers.

lBolton RUFC duo Daisy Greaves and Rebecca Trist have been selected for the Lancashire U15s girls squad with Trist retaining the captaincy she held last season.

Lancashire’s first match is a Roses clash with Yorkshire at Preston Grasshoppers on Sunday.