Stalemate at the Avenue
Bolton 10 Leigh 1O
Bolton entertained Leigh and their supporters on Saturday at The Avenue. The pitches were in immaculate condition considering all the rain we had on Thursday. Well done to our ground staff on a great job. The weather was rather cold with a quite a strong wind blowing diagonally across the pitch. Both sides and the spectators observed a minute’s silence for Remembrance Day.
Almost immediately after kick-off, a Leigh forward broke through a couple of tackles, chipped ahead and added two more kicks to score in the corner. The Leigh kicker added the conversion. Bolton came straight back into the game, pressed hard for quite a few minutes and a were awarded a penalty in the eleventh minute which was missed. Bolton had quite a bit of possession at this stage, but poor handling and lack of discipline enabled Leigh back into the game. They ran hard but Bolton’s defence held firm. In the twenty-sixth minute Bolton were on the scoreboard when Rhys Pritchard kicked a penalty. The score stayed the same up until the half time whistle.
Half-time score Bolton 3 Leigh 7
At the start of the second half, Bolton put together quite a few phases and almost scored but again the handling let them down. Leigh were awarded a penalty in the forty-seventh minute which they converted. The game became very scrappy with both sides losing the ball and giving away penalties and yet neither defences gave way. In the sixty-sixth minute Ryan McClusky caught a kick from Leigh’s fly half, well inside his own half. He started on one of his charging runs. He ran thirty metres running through tackles and he finally passed to James Singleton. James passed the ball to the rampaging Simon Frost who passed to a supporting Kieran Shacklock who scored under the posts. Rhys Pritchard added the conversion. In the last play of the game Bolton had a chance to win the game with a penalty but unfortunately it was missed.
Final score: Bolton 10 Leigh 10
Bolton manged to keep their unbeaten home record which was pleasing. Leigh very much played their part in the game, with some strong defensive work and good running from the deep positions. Bolton’s scrum was strong and the defence was much better. Proper mid table clash that.
Man of the Match: Kieran Shacklock