STRUGGLING Bolton were unable to build on some encouraging recent home displays as they slipped to defeat at Littleborough.

Trailing 5-0 at half-time, Bolton had a good chance of securing their second away victory of the season, but they were unable to capitalise on the advantage of the slope in the second period and the home side ran away with the match in the final 20 minutes.

After an hour’s play, Bolton were still only 5-0 down and competing well at the set pieces and at the breakdown, although some poor individual errors in contact allowed Littleborough to dominate possession and territory.

This pressure finally told and three late tries added gloss to Littleborough’s victory.

Bolton have two home matches left in the league, which provides an excellent opportunity for the Cherry and Whites to finish what has been a difficult season on a high note.

Bolton Under-17s narrowly missed out on reaching the final of the Lancashire and Cheshire League Plate, after their determined performance fell just short as they lost 10-7 to Bowdon in the semi-final.

Bowdon started well, setting a quick early pace, but the home side coped well, with Gage Rosimus and Ollie Pritchard performing admirably at the ruck, turning over opposition ball on numerous occasions.

Despite the turnovers, Bolton failed to retain their own ball, resulting in an early amount of pressure near their own line, and the visitors taking a 5-0 lead after a quarter of the match.

Bolton continued to play with the confidence they gained from the quarter-final victory at Liverpool Collegiate, with Rhys Pritchard and Greg Bird combining well in the centre, causing constant problems for the opposition. But to their credit, the Cheshire side defended resolutely and reduced the hosts to a handful of scoring opportunities.

The referee also sin-binned two Bolton players in the first half, which unsettled the home team.

In the second half, after both sin-bin’s had been served, Bolton went about the job of rescuing the match and securing their place in the end-of-season final.

Captain Andy Crimmins, led from the front with a typically competitive performance, and he was involved in the build up for Bolton’s try, which was finished expertly by Pritchard, who scythed through a rare gap in the Bowdon defence to score under the posts and put his side into a 7-5 lead with 15 minutes left.

As both teams tired, more mistakes were being made, which made for an incredibly tense finale.

Bolton seemed to be on their way to the final, but Bowdon managed to put together an excellent try of their own, which was worthy of winning an incredibly competitive match.

Bolton gave everything they had to grab the decisive score, and went close through Alan Martin and Nick Grimshaw, but could not penetrate the visitors’ defence for a second time.