BOLTON GO THIRD WITH A DOUBLE OVER DELLA

Della arrived early to Avenue Street and showed their intent with a thorough warm up, which was reflected in their bright start to the match in which Bolton spent a lot of time defending. The home side's strong defence was epitomised by some huge tackles, with Chris Mee in particular displaying some impressive physicality.

Wave upon wave of Della attack was being haulted by Bolton's resolute defence, although the cherry and whites were unable to show much in attack, due to their lack of field position.

Bolton's best chance came with a penalty in the Della 22, which fly half Mark Doherty took quickly but the resulting attack was stopped and the chance of three points was gone. A half time it was 0-0.

The second half was slightly more open, but followed a similar pattern of Della attack and solid Bolton defence. On one foray into the Bolton half, the away side took the three points on offer after a Bolton indiscretion at the breakdown, so after an hour, Della led 3-0.

In response to this, Bolton began to secure some good set piece ball and release their strike runners with Louis Critchlow, Gaz Pritchard and home debutant Mike Richardson all carrying well.

The crucial event in the match occurred when an attempted clearing kick from Della was charged down by Rhys Pritchard who gathered his own charge down to race in under the sticks from thirty metres. He converted the try to give Bolton a slender, but precious lead.

The final twenty minutes were made easier for Bolton after a yellow card for the Della flanker, and the away side rarely threatened the Bolton line.

Such a tight victory displayed Bolton's huge defensive improvement and will provide confidence for the league run in, starting next week away at Oldham.