BOLTON overcame a slow start, and conceding an early goal, to beat Worcester 2-1 in the National Futsal Series 1.

In what can only described as a sluggish opening for Bolton, Worcester took the lead after Jordan Deer was left sprawling on the floor, the officials waved play on and Dale Richards slotted home unchallenged.

In truth, Bolton were fortunate not to be 2-0 down after an earlier strike saw Joe Payne stranded, only for the shot to rebound off the post.

It was all too slow in the first 10 minutes which made defending easy for Worcester.

After calling a time out and with half time approaching Bolton picked up the pace, a fine combination bringing an amazing save from Worcester keeper Bryant.

Bolton were now starting to create a little more and were looking likely to level, but it was not all one-way traffic with both keepers forced into strong saves.

A stern half-time talk led to Bolton coming out fired up, with Worcester happy to sit back and counter and Bolton dominating the ball with just the final pass lacking.

Bolton stuck to the task and, rather than force the impossible, were patient in possession as they looked to grind down the Worcester resistance.

In the 35th minute the breakthrough came from a quick combination to Jose Sabatel on the left who buried his shot across Bryant’s goal, flying into the far bottom corner And, once Bolton had drawn level, there only looked like being one winner with Bryant making a number of saves, but in the 37th minute it was the league’s top scorer, Matt Overton, who found the net for the winning goal.

The final minute saw Worcester go to the fly keeper which nearly paid dividends, with a close call for Bolton, the last-gasp chance just going wide of the goal.

Bolton survived that scare and were able to hold the ball for the remainder of the game without further trouble.

The victory, Bolton’s fourth, took them on to 12 points and a share of third place in the table, five points clear of fierce rivals and their next opponents, Manchester.

This week also saw the return of the team’s trio of senior England internationals, Joe Payne, Matt Overton and Jordan Deer.

The three helped their country go undefeated as they retained the crown in the Four Nations Futsal Cup against, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Bolton are also eagerly awaiting the return of their ‘fourth Lion’, the development squad’s 16-year-old Liam Spinks, who is currently on international duty in Turkey with the England Partially Sighted World Cup team.