HORWICH Hockey Club ladies' first team edged their local derby with Bolton second team 2-1 on Saturday to remain top of Division Two.

After Horwich goalkeeper Zoe Dudley denied the visitors with a diving save, her side went ahead when Aimee Gilmore skilfully beat the last defender and fired home just before half time.

Bolton started the second half strongly, but player-of-the-day Becky Howarth was superb in defence.

She and her team could do nothing to prevent Bolton equalising following a short corner, but Horwich grabbed a last-minute winner when Jeanette Brew hit a long ball from defence, Helen Roocroft chased it down and skilfully beat the last defender to get in the D where she found Brew whose shot was saved by the keeper.

Brew retrieved the rebound and played the ball back across goal where Roocroft dived to smash it home.

Horwich men's first team had a difficult day at league leaders Didsbury Northern's fourth team where they went down 7-1.

The first half started with a wave of attacks from Didsbury which resulted in two early goals.

Horwich then showed some spirit for the remainder of the half and had some opportunities on the counter attack due to good work from Tim Hayward and Paul Buckland.

The second half began in the same vain as the first with the home side scoring two early goals to effectively kill the game off and gave the scoreline a one-sided look with three more goals in the last 15 minutes.

Horwich men's second team drew 2-2 at home to Wigton in a pulsating match.

The visiting league leaders applied the early pressure, but the Horwich defence held firm and goalkeeper Graeme Kilshaw made some excellent saves.

The hosts broke the deadlock when Tony Sanderson made a quick break down the right wing and sent a superb cross into the path of Adam Anwar, who struck first time past the opposition keeper.

Wigton equalised in the second half, but Horwich responded by restoring their lead when Dave Fox applied an expert finish to a fast attack.

The local side were forced to settle for a share of the spoils, however, when Wigton levelled from a short corner.