DESPITE consistently losing matches last season Bolton Mets continued to take pride in flying the rugby league flag in Bolton.

The club that brought the game to the town on a competitive senior level in 1995 completed their 22nd season in 10th position out of the 11 teams in North West League Division Five.

The local lads, who play their home games throughout the summer at Bolton Rugby Union Club's Avenue Street ground, got the reward for their determination to always fulfil fixtures by finishing off the bottom.

And chairman Stuart Cooke said that was something the club was proud of.

"As much as we are disappointed with the results and the league position we can take several positives from the season," he said.

"One comes from fulfilling all our league fixtures, something that only three other sides in NWML Division Five can say this year, those being the top three teams.

"It would have been very easy to forfeit games against some of the top teams but at Bolton Mets we have always had the attitude that we’re here to play rugby league, something that has been instilled into the players from our inception in 1995.

"We have received many compliments from other clubs this year due to our ability to get a team out, our never-say-die attitude and our determination to get the win, which has been nice to hear at times when we’ve been feeling at our lowest.

"We aim to come back stronger next year and make improvements in both attack and defence.

"We’ve picked up some talented new players who will no doubt improve the squad next year, we’ve had some young and old players from Bolton RUFC come across to try league for the first time, and above all we’ve had fantastic team morale throughout the season, despite the results.

"We will be back in January when we get back to pre-season training and get ready for our 23rd season of bringing rugby league to Bolton."

The team, which is coached by Al Scarbrough, suffered regular defeats but also played their fair share of competitive rugby.

And their refusal to be unduly fazed by results not going their way has been a trait of the club, which is run by a group of hardcore stalwarts, since they were formed.

They completed this year's activities with a presentation night which saw the main award – the players' player of the season – go to Ryan Terry with Josh Bourne second, tied on points with Terry but losing out on having fewer first-place votes, and captain Ste Hickey third.

Other winners were: opposition's player of the year – first Terry, second Joe Harte, third Hickey; top try scorer – Terry, Harte and Bourne all tied; most improved player of the season – Jason Nuttall; club player of the season – Andy Platt; coaches' player of the season – Bourne.