FLAWLESS in 2018, Bolton took their winning run to nine games as they coped admirably with the weather conditions to see off Fleetwood.

Two tries from Will Bate – one converted by Mike Mills – and three penalties from Louis Lockett helped the Cherry and Whites to a 21-13 victory, their eighth in eight outings since the turn of the year.

And the victory, gained on a treacherous pitch with a wet, slippery ball, sees them move up to sixth in the North Lancs/Cumbria table and still in with an outside chance of sneaking top spot.

Head coach Dave Crouch, however, is simply looking towards the next match and aiming to see an improvement each time his players take to the field.

“We just keep looking to get better each time we play,” he told The Bolton News.

“That has always been our aim since the start of the season, so hopefully we can carry that on, and hopefully take a bonus point this weekend when we play Eccles.

“It’s a bit of a local rival so there could be a little bit of extra bite in that one, especially as we lost 12-3 to them in the home game.

“We could do with picking up a few bonuses if we’re to make up the gap.

“We’ve got quite an interesting run-in, after this weekend at Eccles we have got games against three teams above us [Keswick, Aspatria and Wigton] then two away games against mid-table teams [Tarleton and Trafford MV] who probably won’t have anything to play for. A lot of teams seem to have been raising their game against us, though, so we’ll see what happens.

“Aspatria on Easter Saturday is the one I’m probably most worried about, I think a few of our people might be away that weekend, but then it could be the same for them having to travel down here anyway.

“Whatever happens, it should be an interesting end to the season.”

On Saturday a gritty team performance saw the man-of-the-match vote split between centre Bate, who scored both of the hosts’ tries, and flanker Ryan McClusky, who put Bate away for the first score 10 minutes before half time.

Although he was unable to tag the two extra points on from the conversion, fly-half Lockett did land three first-half penalties as he signed off for the next few weeks.

Bolton do seem to be blessed with enough talent in the kicking ranks to see them through, though, as replacement Mills, playing his first game of the season after suffering with a knee injury, put Bate in for the second try late in the day, then converted the try to complete the scoring for the division’s form team.

“We’re not doing too badly,” was Crouch’s assessment of a 2018 in which they have yet to taste defeat. “We were a bit rusty after a few weeks without playing and it showed, we said we needed to be doing a bit more when we got in at half time, but Fleetwood are a very good team.

“We couldn’t split Will and Ryan for the man of the match, Will scored two tries and played out of his skin, and Ryan was ferocious in the tackle and carried the ball well too.

“We’re pleased to be welcoming Mike Mills back as well, we had to twist his arm a bit to get him to be a replacement but he did about 20 minutes and played very well.

“He’ll start this Saturday, with Louis unavailable for the next four weeks.

“We’re okay in that department, it’s working out quite well for us.”