Under 12's Match report v Eccles/Sedgley Park

After Eccles and Sedgley had fought out a tough 0-0 draw Bolton, missing a few regulars and with Rob Parkinson making his first appearance in a Red shirt, lined up against a Sedgley Park side with one or two familiar faces from last season’s Bolton ranks.
Straight from the kick off both sides attacked with skill and determination but defended with equal gusto. The play moved up and down the pitch with both sides searching for an advantage. Sedgley made the first break but Joe at Full back sent the prop forward thundering into touch.
Captain Josh Holmes was setting the standard for the Bolton side in both attack and defence with some scintillating breaks and bone crunching tackles whilst he was ably supported all across the pitch by his team mates. Especially outstanding were Maria Parkinson’s tackles, Tom Hill’s and Jordan Ashton’s drives and the absolute stability of the Bolton back line.
However, Sedgley deservedly crossed the white-wash first and pulled out a 7-0 lead.
The Bolton guys came storming back, Josh ran half the length of the field only to be stopped right on the line but from the resulting scrum Joey Gore made a telling break from Scrum Half to draw the defence and Tom snapped up the loose ball to power through tackles to score. He them picked himself up, dusted himself off and slotted the conversion to level the scores.
Both sides could have won the game but despite some excellent play the final whistle blew with no further scores.
After just a moment or two’s rest the guys were back on the field to take on Eccles. This led to some good natured inter Bolton School rivalry as both sides had representatives from their Year 7 team on the field.
Again the tackles flew in and once again Josh stood out among some stellar performances and despite trying to think of any reason not to give him the Player of the Match award the coach simply could not ignore his superb play.
Bolton gave the ball a lot more air than the close in attacking Eccles outfit but neither tactic managed to pierce the other side’s defence though there were one or two close calls on both sides. Rob snuffed out one such attack right in the corner and Joe Hill and Josh did the same in the other. At the other end of the field Tom, Matt King and Dylan Hibbert all went close and the forwards so nearly engineered a score on a couple of occasions.
Final score 0-0, and one of the most exciting 0-0 draws we have seen.

The Bolton team are just getting better and better with every game and today played for each other and really looked the part.
Up front Nathan Farrell shone playing at Hooker for the first time whilst Jordan and Tom were both outstanding in every department. Wills Brindle in just his second outing is really making a difference and it was a joy to watch both the Sedgley and Eccles mauls heading backwards at a rate of knots as he put his shoulder down and drove. As always Sam Trueman was a terrier in the loose and Faraaz Mohammed and Joseph Partington glued the whole thing together doing all the unsung but essential work.
In the backs Joey had one of his best games for the club, Rob was immense in his first game with his kicking being especially telling, Dylan was a star at Centre and Matt made some determined breaks on the Left Wing. Maria ran well and with great determination but her tackling really caught the eye and she only just lost out on the Top Tackler award to Jordan’s tackle after tackle performance in the tight. Finally, Josh and Joe played superbly.

Thanks to all 14 players who turned out this morning, you should all be immensely proud of your performances. Also a big THANK YOU needs to go to Mr Hill for his help with coaching this morning.