Bolton lose out to Wigan in Cup

On Sunday Bolton travelled to Wigan in the cup quarter final match. The game started competitively with Bolton defending well under early pressure before Wigan snuck under the posts for the opening score. The away side came back very strongly with some direct running from Lewis Picton which eventually led to a great solo try which Sam Crompton converted.
Wigan made the most of the wind, penning Bolton in their own half and, after some sloppy defending scored out wide. This was followed by 2 further tries for the home side before the half time whistle leaving the score at 24 – 7.
Bolton started the second half strongly, with the forwards and backs linking up well. Direct runs from James Harris and Josh Padmore helped Bolton unlock the well organised Wigan defence with Lewis Picton going over for his second try, which Sam Crompton successfully converted.
From the restart Wigan got a penalty and elected to go for the points. This showed a great amount of respect for Bolton with the away side having the Wigan pack on the back foot. The kick was missed but Wigan made up for the error by scoring from the 22 restart due to some loose defending by Bolton. This seemed to give the home team with the boost they needed with 3 quick tries all but killing the game off.
Bolton did manage to remain competitive in attack and after another great display of forwards and backs linking together they fell just short of the line with Joel Matthews, Seb Donnelly and Sam Crompton all going very close, with some big runs made by the pack with George Whitehead and Connor Mansfield leading the way. Another 2 tries late on from the home side made the score far more flattering than the game deserved with the home coach commenting on how competitive the match was.
The final score was Wigan 53 – 14 Bolton.