AFTER grinding out a hard-fought win on Saturday, Bolton are on course to make their home ground as inhospitable as possible.

Bolton chalked up their third home victory in all competitions on Saturday, overcoming De La Salle 23-17 at Avenue Street to go fourth in the North Lancs/Cumbria division table.

And head coach Dave Crouch is now challenging his players to keep their points tally ticking over on the road, starting with this weekend’s trip to Oldham.

“De La Salle are a good side, and it was a close game until they lost their cool towards the end,” he said. “Their discipline went and we could have scored more tries but a ‘W’ is a ‘W’.

“What we need to do now is start getting points away from home. It won’t be easy at Oldham, we haven’t won there in a few years, they have players who have come in from rugby league, and they always have a huge pack.

“But if we start well and our forwards do their work effectively we’ll have a chance.”

Saturday’s win against previously unbeaten De La Salle will provide Crouch and his men with welcome impetus, as they came out on top despite five changes to the team.

After early penalties had put Della 6-3 ahead, Alex Waddicar’s try meant the Cherry and Whites went into the break two points up.

Niall Murphy stretched the lead, touching down from the back of a scrum but a try and penalty saw the Salford side edge 14-13 in front.

After Bolton had regained the slender lead with a penalty, a powerful drive allowed man-of-the-match James Franks to score what would turn out to be the vital winning try, converted by captain Rhys Pritchard.

Della kicked a penalty with a minute left but Bolton saw out victory that put them in fourth place.

With a number of absentees – including vice-captain Louis Critchlow – available once again for the Oldham game, Crouch admits he now has some thinking to do regarding his team selection.

“It’s a nice position for me to be in,” he said. “Andrew Wood went to scrum-half and did well, I didn’t even know before Saturday he could play there.

“And James Franks was in the second team last year but he has bulked up, he had a cracking game at prop. He was everywhere, he scrimmaged well and was very vocal. He’ll keep his place.

“We should have Louis back on Saturday, he’s had a hamstring injury and he didn’t play last weekend as a precaution, but hopefully we’ll have him back, he’s a difference maker for us.”