Bolton Mets kept up their play-off hopes with a fine come-from-behind 30-18 win at the Rylands Sharks. 

After a couple of narrow home defeats, victory was essential to keep pace in North West Men’s League Division Five. 

The opening period was fairly even, both sides attacking with vigour and determination to cross the try line. 

The Mets were picking holes in the Sharks defence but the final pass was not finding its desired target. 

The visitors were made to pay and Rylands went through for a converted try to take a 6-0 lead. 

Things went from bad to worse for Bolton as a missed tackle here and some poor positioning there, allowed the Sharks the time and space to run through the defensive line to score two additional tries, with successful kicks making it 18-0 after half an hour. 

To their credit the Mets hit back just when they needed to. 

Steven Harrison attacked the blind side before passing on to Paul Charnock and a strong carry attracted several defenders to him.

This then led to an opportunity from the resulting play the ball and Jonathan McMillan took the ball to the line before offloading to the supporting Patrick O’Brien who dived over the line to score, making it 18-4 at the interval. 

The revival continued at the start of the second half, O’Brien going on a mazy run before a quick turn of pace saw him break the line and touch down close to the posts for his second try of the afternoon. 

Daryl Devlin added the extras to narrow the gap further.

Debutant Ethan Hill then played a role in the next try, beating the the covering defence for pace, before releasing Ben Latham allowing him to score in the corner to move Bolton within four points of the home side. 

Another break from O’Brien then delivered the try that would tie the scores. 

Having bust through the middle of the defence, he offloaded to the supporting McMillan who then finished off the move by scoring directly under the crossbar. 

Captain Devlin completed the comeback with the conversion to put his side 20-18 up.

Things didn’t get any better for the hosts as they went down a man, Hill and Latham linking up again for the next try. 

Hill set away Latham before he passed inside as he was about to be tackled prior to making the line. 

The pass wasn’t the best, but with no retreating defenders it meant Devlin had time to pick up the loose ball and score his first try of the season before adding the conversion. 

Turning the comeback into a victory, McMillan finished the game with his obligatory solo try. 

Spotting a gap and putting his foot down, he outpaced the full back to the line and doubled his tally for the afternoon.

Devlin was unable to find the target from a rushed conversion and hooked it wide. 

That couldn’t take away however from a fine team performance on the day. 

Bolton next host Blackpool Scorpions in the NWML Shield at Greenhalgh’s Pavilion at 2.30pm on Saturday. 

Mets will be looking to cause a shock against the Division Four side and reach the quarter-finals.