BOLTON RUFC skipper Chris Cockton is calling for a response from his side after a shock defeat at rock-bottom Ashton-under-Lyne on Saturday.

After three straight victories, the Cherry and Whites were looking to maintain the pressure on North Lancs/Cumbria Division leaders St Benedicts in east Manchester and were overwhelming favourites against a side who had lost all eight of their games this campaign going into last weekend's clash.

But it turned out out be a bad day at the office for Bolton with circumstances conspiring against them in a 22-17 reverse.

Not only did they struggle to cope with the cold and wet conditions but had to overcome some debatable refereeing decisions and then lost two influential players to injury.

Cockton himself had to leave the field with concussion following a heavy bang on the head and then Louis Critchlow suffered what was feared initially as a broken tibia, though X-rays have revealed the injury is ligament damage.

Despite their bad luck, though, Cockton is not shying away from the defeat and conceded Ashton deserved their first victory of the season.

He told The Bolton News: "We warned against complacency but I think that may have been our issue.

"In the first half, Ashton wanted it a lot more than us.

"There were some interesting decisions from the officials but they played the referee better than us.

"They were one-dimensional but tough to break down and they also switched the game to their seconds' pitch which was smaller.

"But I have to give them credit because they deserved the win and we didn't."

Three early penalties and a try gave the hosts a 16-0 lead before a Mike Mills penalty made it 16-3 at half time.

Converted tries from Will Bate and Jack Robinson put Bolton 17-16 in front but two more penalties gave Ashton the victory.

The defeat saw Bolton lose ground on table-topping St Benedicts who won again but second-placed Aspatria drew and fourth-placed Fleetwood lost 11-5 at Tyldesley to ease the disappointment slightly.

But Cockton says there cannot be any more slips on Saturday when they host a resurgent Silloth at Avenue Street.

The captain said: "Silloth are not a bad team and will be high on confidence after back-to-back wins.

"They have a lot of rugby league players in the side.

"But it is about our response on Saturday and we need a big effort from the players. It is back to the drawing board.

"In a strange way the defeat has galvanised us and maybe it will be a good thing in the long run.

"It might be the rocket up the backside we needed."

Cockton will be missing on Saturday as concussion rules mean he must sit it out.

He hopes to return the following weekend in the rearranged clash against Whitehaven but the diagnosis for Critchlow is less promising.

Cockton added: "I took a blow to the head and was knocked out so had to come off.

"The rules say I have to miss one more game so it's frustrating to be on the sidelines again but I will be cheering the lads on.

"It looks like Louis will be out for the foreseeable future unfortunately.

"We thought he had broken his tibia but it looks like it is not broken and it is ligament damage but that still rules him out for a while."