Aspatria 52-10 Bolton

Bolton travelled back up to Cumbria again this weekend. The only mishap with the coach was that the fan belt snapped and we had to wait 45 minutes for a replacement coach. This meant that the players had to miss their customary stop at Tebay Services due to the time element (One or two were shaking as they got off the coach with lack of sausages and coffee!). We had made nine changes to the team that didn’t play Wigton due to unavailability and injury to players.

Aspatria started off very strongly and due to poor tackling and some very hard running they scored a couple of early tries. A penalty was converted by Mike Mills. Aspatria added to their score and a try by Louis Critchlow and conversion by Mills again saw Bolton finish the half 21-10 down having played very well in the last ten minutes of the half.

At the start of the second half Bolton pressed Aspatria’s line and were unlucky not to score, after a very successful pick and drive near the line. Valiant tackling from Bolton saved certain tries in the second half with Aspatria finding a lot of space on the outside. In the last twenty minutes Bolton struggled with the pace of the game and Aspatria ran out winners 52-10. Aspatria have built a team by attracting some of the best players from around Cumbria and the North East and will likely do well in this competition and the league as the season unfolds.

The Bolton team showed a lot of heart and kept trying until the end. Fox and Swift are to be congratulated for their first game for the first fifteen. The Man of The Match Gaz Pritchard was outstanding in both attack and defence.