BOLTON Mets suffered a heavy defeat at home to local rivals Westhoughton Lions, who ran out 70-14 winners.

From the start the Mets conceded points and could not recover after the Lions scored two early tries to open up a 10-point lead.

The Mets quickly hit back with a try of their own, hooker Martin Galland bouncing his kick off a Westhoughton player and into the hands of onrushing full-back Sam Smith. The 17-year-old, in his first his rugby league match since switching codes, hit the ground running and touched down. Mets captain Mark Dorning slotted over the conversion from close to the touchline.

The remainder of the half consisted of one-way traffic, as the Lions scored several tries and the Mets' defence failed to complete one-on-one tackles, leading to a half-time score of 50-6.

The second half was a lot tighter as the Mets started to put their shoulders into the tackles, with Jack Crompton standing out in defence, but with the home team suffering numerous injuries any cohesiveness they had had was lost.

The Mets did manage to get some more points on the board, with Adam Hardwick scoring for the second week running, going over in the corner, and Gareth Shaw collecting a loose ball from Dorning's cross-field kick.

However, the Lions kept their scores ticking over and ran out emphatic winners.

Neil Walsh was awarded the man-of-the-match by the opposition, with Joe Harte and Smith pushing him close, while Crompton was picked out as the top tackler.