A ROB Lord hat-trick in the first half secured maximum points for Bolton Hockey Club’s men’s firsts with a 5-1 triumph against Alderley Edge thirds.

Bolton made five changes from their previous outing against Wilmslow seconds for the North West Men’s Three South clash but began in dominant fashion, confidently spreading the ball around the field.

In the second minute, Joel Reiss won a penalty corner for the home side and the returning Lord dragged the ball into the top corner with aplomb.

Five minutes later Bolton won another penalty corner, Lord again flicked the ball home doubling the lead.

And after a quarter of an hour, Lord had completed his hat-trick with another goal from a penalty corner over the young Alderley Edge keeper.

Bolton had made it 4-0 10 minutes later with Gibraltar international Lee Ramagge rifling the ball into the top corner after some great work on the wing by Sam Robinson.

At half time Bolton were cruising with debutant goalkeeper Kyle Hatch hardly being called into action.

However, after the break Edge came out a different side and won several penalty corners forcing Hatch into several important saves.

And they pulled a goal back in the 55th minute from yet another penalty corner.

This made Bolton step up a gear and with 10 minutes to go Robinson made it 5-1, again linking up with Ramage.

After the match captain Martin Luke said: “We came out of the blocks flying and it was fantastic to see the players transfer what we have worked on in training onto the pitch today.

“In the second half we took our foot off the gas and it could have cost us.

“However, with a bare 11 it is understandable as there were some tired legs out there towards the end.”

The women’s firsts also won thanks to a Yas Aldcroft brace in a 4-0 scoreline in North West Women’s Two South against Liverpool Sefton thirds.

Bolton started with some great movement and Aldcroft sent a powerful strike towards goal leaving the Sefton defender no chance other than to deflect the ball into their own goal .

The pressure paid off again when Bolton won a penalty corner. It was dispatched to Alex Roe who flicked the ball towards goal. The impressive shot was on target and was given extra help over the line by Jenny Brookfield who claimed the second goal for Bolton.

As the first half progressed Bolton won another penalty corner. This time the initial shot was saved by the Sefton goalkeeper, a goalmouth scramble saw the ball break to Angelie Chitre at the post who was on hand to fire the rebound past the keeper.

The second half saw Bolton only manage to add one further goal to their tally. Forcing another penalty corner which saw Aldcroft score with a strong shot from the top of the D.

Bolton continued to dominate the match and despite Liverpool Sefton trying to up the pressure, they were unable to break down the Bolton defence as Nyemh Johnson in the Bolton goal kept a clean sheet.

Elena Hawkrigg turned out a player-of-the-match performance holding a strong position in the middle of the pitch.