BOLTON Mets suffered a second successive North West Men’s League Division Five defeat when they went down 82-0 at early leaders Higginshaw.

With two convincing victories already under the hosts’ belts, Mets knew this away fixture was going to be a tough one.

The Higginshaw centre scored two early tries to set them on their way, and with more tries following in quick succession the game soon got out of reach for Mets.

By the time the first half came to an end the gap was already at 40 points, the Mets defence not covering itself in glory and leaving head coach Al Scarbrough with the impossible task of masterminding a comeback.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, however, there were several positives to take from the game.

Recent recruit Alex Stephens went on a barnstorming run, scattering defenders along the way, and even though he managed to get the ball down over the line he was adjudged to have made a double movement.

Another highlight was the work of prop forwards Anthony Knight and Will Brown, both playing out of position but doing what they could for the best of the team.

Several strong carries caused the Higginshaw defence problems, and with them being backed up by loose forward, Rob Tuppen, they were helping drive the team forward.

As the game drew to a close at 82-0, the need for some major defensive work was evident. Despite this, the statistics being taken on the sidelines by Clair Jones showed Knight was top tackler, with eight first-man tackles, 12 second-man tackles and only one missed tackle.

This was a great effort from someone wary of playing in the prop forward position prior to the game.

Other players worthy of a mention were Mark Riley, Jonathan McMillan and Stephens.

Even though Mets failed to get on the scoresheet, the opposition still had to pick out a man of the match, and it went to full-back Patrick O’Brien – his third such award of the campaign to date.

The returning Daryl Devlin and second row Stephens were runners-up, whereas Scarbrough picked out Brown for individual praise.

Next up for Mets is a trip to the seaside to face Blackpool Stanley tomorrow.