Men’s firsts dealt blow after losing a seven-goal thriller

The men’s firsts, who sit third in North West Men’s Three South, made the trip to face a Chester thirds side down in 11th.

But they were on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller.

Bolton earned their first penalty corner of the match and from the resulting set-piece, a Chester player5’s rather clumsy attempt to take the ball through a visiting player was waved away by the umpire, despite penalty shouts.

Martin Luke’s rather crude summing up of the Chester player was met with a harsh consequence of a 10-minute sinbin.

Bolton rode out the sinbin period and rotated the bench, rolling on fresh legs.

Substitute Kyle Hatch worked the keeper after great work down the right side from George Brennan, the outside forward beating his man before making it to the byeline and cutting the ball back for the striker to shoot, the keeper deflecting wide.

From the resulting long corner, Bolton scored, again Brennan worked the flank, cut back to Hatch who got in front of the keeper, but he was beaten to the ball by a hapless defender who turned the ball into his own net.

Chester hit back almost straight away from a set-piece of their own, the defensive unit failing to stop the rebounded shot going in.

The hosts took the lead soon after. There was a moment of controversy as a swing and a miss from the Chester striker was not awarded and on the second attempt, the ball put into the net, much to Bolton’s frustration.

That frustration was turned into a positive as they went on the hunt for an equaliser before half time.

Earning a penalty flick for a deliberate infraction in the D, the usually reliable Lee Ramagge, placed his effort wide.

In the second half, Bolton still chased an equaliser and 15 minutes in it came via Ramagge. He swung and missed before putting his second effort in.

Chester then hit two quickfire goals as legs tired.

First, a penalty corner was poorly defended and then a generous penalty flick was awarded to the home side and the taker made no mistake.

Bolton got one back via Brennan after excellent work down the right from Damien Pearse.

But even though they sacrificed the keeper for the final three minutes, they were unable to force the equaliser in a 4-3 defeat.

They visit Stockport Bramhall firsts this weekend.

The men’s seconds played Bowdon sixths at home and any hopes of putting themselves back in the North West Men’s Six East promotion race were dealt a blow as they dropped points in a 1-1 draw.

Going behind midway through the first half, they pulled one back after the interval through Stuart Wallace to gain a point.

But, in reality, it will feel more like two points dropped ahead of another home game against Leigh firsts this weekend.

The women’s firsts’ rearranged game was again postponed and they return to action at home against Timperley seconds in North West Women’s One this weekend.

The women’s second’s did play and beat second-placed Stockport Bramhall seconds 2-1 in North West Women’s Four East to reignite their push up the table.

At a sometimes-sunny Leverhulme Pavilion, the hosts started much the better team, putting their opponents on the back foot early.

It was from early pressure that a series of penalty corners were earned and Jess Flegg set up Viv Lake to open the scoring.

Despite all their good work, they let Stockport back in just before half time.

Some frantic defending kept Stockport out initially, with keeper Nina Jones determined to keep a clean sheet.

But from the next set-piece, Stockport forced the ball inside the post and it was all square at the break.

The second half followed much the same pattern of the first with Bolton the team on top.

They could have scored the winner on several occasions but it was the original combination who combined to get them back in front, albeit this time in reverse to take the spoils, as Lake set up Flegg to score.

They host Didsbury Northern fifths this weekend looking to build on the victory.