BOLTON’s title hopes were given a boost at the weekend even though their match at home to struggling Whitehaven was postponed.

Their intended opponents were unable to raise a team and the fixture has been rescheduled for November 28.

But in a bitter-sweet turn of events, St Benedicts, the early pacesetters in the North Lancs/Cumbria Division, lost 100 per cent record in a 19-15 defeat at fellow title chasers Oldham.

“With the results elsewhere, we might have gone top if we had been able to beat Whitehaven,” said Bolton captain Chris Cockton.

“But it was good to see St Benedicts drop points.

“We now have a winnable game in hand, which puts us in a good position.”

Bolton’s only defeat in their first four matches of the season came at St Benedicts.

With the two sides not due to face each other again in the league until the final day of the campaign, there was some concern in the Avenue Street camp that the reverse fixture may come too late.

“Our main aim at the start of the season was to win the title, so we now know that, at the very least, if we can match St Benedicts results throughout the season then it will still be in our hands going into that last game.

“When our game was postponed on Saturday we were all looking out for the St Benedicts result and the defeat just threw the title race back open again.

“It is tradition that St Benedicts are very strong at home but sometimes struggle to fill the coach for away games, so this result just confirmed what we suspected.

“It also announced Oldham as a genuine contender.

“They have just been promoted this season but have played at this level before and know what it takes to be successful in this division.

“So they will clearly be ones to watch out for.”

It is, of course, very early in the season to be talking of titles and promotion.

And while Cockton and his team-mates are happy to admits they have their hearts set on an instant return to North One following relegation last season, he says focus will always remain on the next game.

“All you can do is try to win the next match and the rest will take care of itself,” he said, looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to bogey side Hawcoat Park.

“We have never won at Hawcoat in, I think, four or five previous attempts, so we will be going all out to break our duck.

“For some reason, we always seem to play them away in the first game of the season, and we are traditionally slow starters.

“But we want to make sure we take full advantage of St Benedicts slip-up.”

The free weekend has, at least, given Bolton’s Ash Cooper (knee) and Niall Murphy (hamstring) extra time to get over injuries that made them doubtful for the Whitehaven game.