BOLTON RUFC produced the goods just when they needed it to beat Bedians 18-7.

They travelled to the South Manchester side knowing that anything less than a win would push them into the relegation dogfight along with their hosts. Bedians at the start of the game were two points behind Bolton who had a game in hand.

Bolton started strongly and Guy Lovegreen kicked a penalty after desperate defending by the home side, who resorted to spoiling tactics. Lovegreen kept the pressure on by successfully slotting over another close range penalty kick but Bolton were unlucky not to score a try after strong running by full back Myles Edwards, who off loaded to winger John Keech but he was stopped yards from the try line.

Lovegreen made sure the ball was kept alive with some lovely passing moves which almost resulted in the other winger Ian McCulloch scoring. The home defence held strong, but Lovegreen kicked his third penalty just before half time.

With the sun in their eyes and playing uphill in the second half Bolton needed to defend their lead. Bedians realised they needed a score dto stay in the game. However with Lovegreen moving to fullback to cope with the bombardment of high balls Bolton stood firm for the third quarter. Bedians never gave in and scored a long range try against the run of play after a couple of missed tackles.

This stunned Bolton into action and they applied late pressure which resulted in three penalties from Lovegreen converted.