All the best laid plans...................as the going says

Bolton U14’s travelled to Rossendale for this last minute arranged fixture in order to prepare for their Blacksticks League match the following Sunday.
This friendly fixture was a chance to give as many of the 25 squad strong some playing time.
The game started very evenly matched with both teams having similar amounts of possession.
Rossendale however caught Bolton half asleep and their pacey no 9 made a break for the line before just being stopped short but the Rossendale support reacted quicker than Bolton and Rossendale had opened the scoring on 2 minutes. 7 v 0
Bolton’s heads didn’t drop which allowed Josh Grundy to break down the left wing after good forward play and score as close to the posts as possible to allow his twin to convert the try.
The score now level at 7 v 7. The game continued and on 15 minutes Bolton made wholesale changes to the team to allow everyone who had made the trip get some playing time.
Kier Kernick strengthened up the Bolton defence with great tackling, Alfie Kay went in the front row, Sam Dawson came onto the wing.
At this point Zak Grundy had to leave the field of play with a pre existing shoulder injury. This was just the start of numerous injuries picked up during this game. Both teams then battled hard for supremacy but simple mistakes were to lead to another try by Rossendale who turned the ball over in the centre of the field and shipped it wide to their fastest player. This try was converted 14 v 7.
2 minutes later however it was time for new player Kier Kernick to show his turn of speed. Kier scored a deserved try after stemming up the defence in the first half after tackle after tackle.
Milo Holmes took over the kicking duties after Zak had left the field of play.
Half time.
With the score at 14 v 12 the second half looked like it would be set up for a great game.
Again at half time Bolton brought on different players to make sure everyone got some game time.
5 minutes into the second half Dan Southworth collected the ball on the left wing outside the Rossendale 22m line and drifted over to the right wing where he scored in the corner to put Bolton in the lead for the first time in the game. Milo was unable to convert the try. 14 v 17.
Unfortunately in the process of scoring the try he injured his knee and left the field of play.
Bolton found themselves on the back foot now but for some great defensive work by James Evans which won him the ‘Tackler’ award of the game.
Then Dan was followed shortly afterwards by Tom Knight-Rigler (Pictured above)who broke his collar bone on the dry and solid pitch when he landed on it attempting to make a tackle. An injury which now requires pinning this week in hospital (Ouch painful). This seemed to single the time for the ‘flood gates’ to open and Rossendale turned on the screw and scored four more unanswered tries.
Milo Holmes left the pitch with a jaw injury towards the end after receiving an elbow to it, followed by Ben Turner who couldn’t continue with a leg injury.
Milo’s contribution to the game was tremendous having to play in several positions due to injuries to key players.
Overall the score didn’t reflect the effort the Bolton players put in but once the tries started towards the end their heads dropped. Heres hoping that all the players who picked up injuries apart from Tom will recover in time for next week’s match at Sedgley Park.
We wish Tom a speedy recovery.
Player of the Match: Kier Kernick
Most Contribution: Milo Holmes
Tackler Award: James Evans