By Matthew Rimmer

BOLTON Men's first team rose to sixth place in North West League Division Three North by taking four points out of a possible six last weekend.

They recovered from going a goal behind away to bottom club Lytham to win 4-1 on Saturday before battling out a 1-1 home draw with seventh-placed Didsbury Northern Men's 3rd XI 24 hours later.

James Robinson scored a hat-trick against Lytham – his first for the club – and Joel Reiss got the other goal.

The team spirit was evident in how they responded to going a goal down while Damien Pearse proved vital to the victory with three assists and a hand in the other goal.

The following day Bolton took the lead against Didsbury from a very good team move involving Reiss, Phil Johnson, Andrew Ackroyd and finished off by Pearse.

Bolton should have been at least three goals ahead by half time and paid for their inability to convert chances when Didsbury capitalised on a lack of concentration to equalise.

Bolton's second team earned the bragging rights over local rivals Horwich with a 3-2 home victory.

It made no difference to their respective positions in North West League Division Five North/South but opened up the gap between third-placed Bolton and fourth-placed Horwich to nine.

The fast-paced game saw both teams have good spells on the ball and create a number of chances in the first half but neither could break the deadlock.

The second half picked up were the first ended and it was Bolton who drew first blood through striker Adam Anwar.

He kept a calm head and showed impressive technique to lift the ball over the keeper who went down early.

It was a goal fest from then with the lead soon doubled when Rob Davies squared a free hit along the edge of the area to captain Phil Johnston who drifted right and struck a sublime shot across goal into the top right corner.

Horwich were far from finished and, despite good defending from Bolton and a number of crucial tackles by defender Tom Briscoe, they pulled one back from a penalty corner with 15 minutes to go.

Bolton restored the two-goal advantage when Anwar found the bottom corner but never-say-die Horwich scored again to make it a nervous last five minutes for Bolton who maintained their perfect home record.

Bolton Ladies first team's difficult season continued when they were beaten 3-1 by mid-table Lymm.

The North Hockey League Women’s League Division One's bottom-placed side conceded an early goal from a penalty corner.

They had the majority of possession in the first half and fought hard to try to create chances with Helen Bowden and Hollie Smedley in good creative form up front and Jenny Neville and Yaz Aldcroft having excellent games.

The team lacked the finishing touch and paid for it when Lymm scored on the break against the run of play.

Lymm made it 3-0 five minutes into the second half.

Bolton never stopped fighting and had the majority of possession for the remainder of the half, resulting in a consolation goal when Helen Bowden got a deflection from a penalty corner.