Bolton U18s are through to the final!

On a gloriously sunny day, Bolton U18s hosted Marple in the League Shield Semi-finals. From the kick off Marple attacked with real strength, and after 5 minutes of attacking play, they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, and kicked the goal, 0-3 to Marple. Bolton picked themselves up straight away, and were back in the attacking play that has seen them through to this match. Tom Evans passed to Jamie Currie, who passed it to David Price, who passed it quickly to Adam Hackin who stormed through to score Bolton’s first try – swiftly converted by David Price, the score was 7-3 to Bolton.
From Marple’s kick off, Tom Evans caught the ball and passed it to Jonny Wallis who stormed forward and Marple gave away a penalty. David Price made good ground kicking for touch, and at the line-out a well-timed throw from Matthew Chowdhury was neatly caught by Paddy Hargreaves. He passed the ball to Jamie Currie who passed it to Ben Nicholson who hit the Marple line at pace with a great run, before passing to Harvey Banks, who took the ball to ground and passed it to David Price who darted through the defence for Bolton’s second try – 12-3.
Bolton were performing well, and a kick from David Price gave George Lilleywhite and Joe Carter the opportunity to chase the ball down and put Marple under pressure. George and Joe forced Marple into an error, which gave Bolton the scrum. They then were awarded a penalty, and the kick saw Bolton with the line out close to Marple’s line. A superbly planned move saw the ball flicked out to Zack Doogan who stormed over the line for Bolton’s third try – 17-3 to Bolton.
From the kick-off Bolton moved rapidly up-field. Under pressure Marple knocked on and from the scrum Tom Evans flicked the ball to Joe Carter, who, showing tremendous speed, sprinted down the line, leaving Marple in his wake, to score a great try, 22-3 to Bolton.

Marple were determined that this would not be their last game of the season, and they fought back strongly, and within minutes a lack of concentration from Bolton saw them score a converted try, and the score was 22-10 to Bolton. However, following the kick off a careless penalty by Marple enabled David Price to take a quick penalty, getting the ball out to Jonny Wallis who was not going to be stopped, and scored in the corner Bolton’s 5th try – 27-10 at half time.

The second half was nail bitingly close. Marple put every effort into the game, and had the final in their sight. 2 quick tries by Marple saw the score agonisingly close at 27-22. Bolton held strong for the next 10 minutes, with great defence by Lewis Rostron, Morgan Smith and Callum Naylor. Tom Hetherington and Paddy Uzoka made some fantastic tackles, and Nathan Collins and Morgan Skeels-Caldwell continued to drive forward with strength. Eventually this tenacity paid dividends, Matty Baum passed the ball to Jamie Currie who dived over the line for Bolton’s 6th try, converted neatly by David Price, and the score was 34-22. Marple came back straight away and scored a converted try, and the score was 34-29. The last 7 minutes saw some tremendous defence by Bolton. Their captain, Paddy Hargreaves, kept the lads focussed, and every player gave their all. As the whistle blew, they celebrated a hard fought but well deserved win. On to the final now!