BOLTON Mets remain rooted to the bottom of North West Men’s League Division Five after a 38-0 home defeat to Leyland Warriors A on Saturday.

Without a win in their first four league outings, and after three weeks without a game, Mets were looking to break their duck at Greenhalgh’s Pavilion against a side who had also failed to register a victory at the start of the campaign.

But it was Warriors who started the better of the two sides and they opened the scoring when a cut-out pass allowed their centre to cross the line.

With Bolton on the attack, a loose pass then bounced into the hands of a Leyland player who sprinted three-quarters of the length of the pitch to score under the posts.

A third try followed when the Mets defence was caught flat-footed and the attacker side-stepped his way to the line.

With all three conversions successful, the Warriors had an 18-0 lead.

As the half progressed, strong drives forward by Jason Nuttall, Andy Platt and Ryan Terry helped Mets put pressure on the Leyland defence which ended with winger Gareth Shaw going close to scoring in the corner.

This was followed by full-back Joe Harte being held up close to the line in the next attack.

Having failed to score at one end, Mets conceded a fourth try at the other when Leyland’s stand-off was allowed too much space and waltzed his way to another score to make it 24-0 at half time.

Things started brightly after the interval as Nuttall went on a barnstorming run, until he was brought down by the opposing full-back.

From a quick play the ball was released to winger Dan Johnson down the touchline but the sliding defence did just enough to stop him from touching down in the corner.

After suffering a broken ankle in the Old Boys’ fixture in February, prop forward Gavin Corfield made his return to the side and made his presence felt by bumping off several defenders when taking the ball in.

Despite some positives, frustration was starting to take hold and Mets allowed Warriors an opportunity to score again.

A solo effort by the fleet-footed scrum-half helped increase the lead for Leyland.

The game had now slipped from Bolton’s grasp and a final try for the opposition only cemented their woes.

There were positives, however, with five players making their debuts.

Neil Chadwick, Neil Kelly and Darren Robinson were three of the players making their bows, while Tom Crook and Alex Greenhalgh stepped up from Bolton RUFC Junior Colts and showed signs of potential.

Mets travel to Saddleworth Rangers A on Saturday (2.30pm) looking to avoid a sixth successive reverse.