BOLTON Mets ran in seven tries to convincingly beat their local rivals from two divisions below.

It was no pushover for Mets who had eight players out injured.

They had the upper hand in the North West Counties Bowl first-round clash from the moment they opened the scoring in the opening minutes.

Stand-off Paul Wilcox capitalised on prop Gary Hill’s powerful attacking drives before Mets second rower Lewis Taylor scored after hooker Neil Walsh made the break from dummy half.

Loose forward Mark Dorning made it three, cutting the Wigan defence to pieces as he ran in from 40 metres.

The Bulldogs pulled one back before the break to make it 16-4 at half time.

Bolton began the second half with another try, prop Hill taking the power play option to dive through a packed defence.

Hooker Walsh opened his account in similar fashion and the Mets were coasting.

The Bulldogs reduced the deficit again then Bolton’s man-of-the-match, full-back Joe Harte, scored the try of the game with a solo effort from the halfway line, carving up the Wigan defence.

The Bulldogs lead by their hooker made a revival scoring two quick tries panicking the Mets defence.

In the last 10 minutes Walsh added another for Bolton, taking the pressure off and sending Mets into the second round.

Coach Chris Brown said: “The penalty count against us, once again, was well into double figures, this has to be sorted.

“With several first choice players out, it gave others in the squad a chance to shine, in particular prop Nathan Dodds who has played only a handful of league games and is improving all the time.”

The Mets are at home to Woolston Rovers on Saturday, meet 12.30pm at Newhouse Farm.