BOLTON thirds made the short trip to Brooklands looking to carry on their impressive start to the season and came away with a 1-1 draw.

With the addition of Davies and Guey to bolster their attacking options Bolton began brightly with some incisive passing and movement to inflict a great deal of pressure on the home team's defence.

For all the early pressure Bolton were unable to capitalise with a goal and it was left to Brooklands to break the deadlock against the run of play.

The Bolton defence did not react to a quickly taken free hit and it left the Brooklands forward with an easy tap-in.

At 1-0 down at half time the team talk was demanding much of the same hockey that saw Bolton put their counterparts under pressure during the first half.

This inspired the team, as they came out fighting; displaying a wide array of passing, skills and movement. But it took until 20 minutes into the second half for Bolton to get back level.

From a short corner, Philbin stopped for Flanagan to strike a scuffed shot, which bounced over the keeper and into the path of Nelson, who applied the finish to give Bolton a well deserved goal.

Bolton pushed on in search for the winner and had a call for a goal in the last couple of minutes, but the umpire indicated that the touch came from a Brooklands' stick and awarded a long corner.

At the end a 1-1 draw against a good Brooklands team was a good result. Bolton play host to Glaxo HC at home at the weekend and will hopefully take their excellent form into the game.

The fifth team suffered a 3-2 defeat to Liverpool Sepfton fourths, but continued to battle against older and more experienced and physical sides. They pulled two goals back in the last 15 minutes with strikes from Scott Mather and George Allcock.