OLD Boltonians made a flying start to their defence of the Lancashire FA Cup on Saturday.

Steve Eccleshare's men comprehensively saw off fellow Lancashire Amateur League Premier Division neighbours Blackrod Town 6-2 away.

Two goals apiece for Rob Taylor and Sean Rushton and one each for Lucas Gaynor and Matt McClellan sent out a message the Turton side do not intend to give up the trophy they won without a fight.

"We're the holders so we want to protect it," said manager Eccleshare who did not believe the scoreline flattered his players.

"It was a really good performance – quality," he said. "We were solid from start to finish in difficult conditions but on a good pitch.

"They've had someone in working on the pitch and it's good."

Old Bolts, who are flying high on top of the league after six games, had what on the face of it was a difficult first-round draw in Blackrod, who are only three places below them in the league with just one defeat in five.

But rather than wishing his players could have had an easy day of it Eccleshare was pleased to have got a challenging side, particularly as they face an early Premier Division crunch game this Saturday when they travel to third-placed Rossendale who have won all four of their opening league games.

"Blackrod was a tough tie for that cup," he said. "You've got to play about eight games to win it and you can start with a couple of easier games.

"But I'm glad we had a hard team to start with because if you play a lower team you can feel it's taken the edge off you when you get back to the league.

"I would rather play a good team and keep the tempo up."

Bolts certainly kept the tempo up on Saturday, starting as they meant to go on when they took the lead after just 42 seconds when Gaynor crossed and Taylor flicked a header past the goalkeeper.

Rushton made it two from the spot before Blackrod halved the arrears.

"Gaynor headed Bolts into a 3-1 lead and McClellan stretched to prod home a cross before half time."

"We wanted to kill them off in the second half and Rob Taylor made it 5-1 with a solo effort in the second," added Eccleshare.

"But they got one back straightaway so we kept at it and Sean Rushton got another to finish them off."

"Rossendale got beat 6-1 in the cup on Saturday, so that was well timed for us!

"We've got to watch out for how they respond when we play them on Saturday. If we can get a win we can open up a little gap."

Horwich St Mary's Victoria went out of the cup 4-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 with Mostonians at home while in the Premier Division eighth-placed Little Lever drew 4-4 at Old Blackburnians.

Bolton County's tough start to life in the Premier Division of the Manchester League continued when they went down 4-0 at Stockport Georgians to leave them third bottom with one league win in 11 games.