BOLTON men's first team gained their first point of the year at North West League Division Two relegation rivals Formby.

Third bottom Bolton had a deflected short corner in the dying minutes to thank for earning a 2-2 draw with the team one place below them.

With a string of recent defeats behind them Bolton changed their formation with the aim of being hard to break down and play on the counter attack.

Bolton defended well early on with tight marking and strong tackling from Sean Carney, Jonathan Chowdhury and Marcus Starr thwarting the home attacks.

It was a goalless stalemate at half time and Bolton grew in confidence and counter attacked well with aerial shots from Rob Davies peppering the opposition D only for the forwards to lack the composure to control and shoot.

Davies broke the deadlock when he fired a reverse-stick shot into the bottom corner following a well-worked attack down the right.

Formby pressured and drew level after Bolton finally succumbed to a succession of short corners.

And the home side took the lead when Starr rugby tackled his opponent to give away a stroke which was well dispatched.

Bolton deserved something from the game after impressive and resilient defending, and with only minutes remaining they were awarded a short corner which was well struck and deflected into the home goal.

The men's second team are also fighting relegation and also fought back to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Lancaster and Morecambe 2nds in North West League Division Four North.

But this time they came back from two goals down.

Even so they were disappointed not to win a game they dominated and saw them create many good chances.

Sharp passing and clever movement was rewarded when Richard Coles applied a deft touch to a cross to lift the ball over the goalkeeper.

The second half saw Bolton continue to dominate possession and chances and Simon Coles levelled with a strike into the far corner.

Bolton ladies' second team suffered a dismal double when they lost 5-0 to Manchester Moss Park 2nd Xl in Greater Manchester Hockey Association Division Two on Saturday before losing their All Division Cup quarter-final clash with City of Manchester first team 4-2 24 hours later.

After missing chances and playing some good hockey in the first game, they started well in the cup clash – in which they were given a 1-0 advantage due to the sides' respective league positions.

They quickly made it 2-0 when superb positioning from Jude Gough on a short corner led to the only goal of the first half.

They could not hold out, however, as the hosts scored four unanswered goals in the second half.