Bolton travelled to Ashton with a strong squad for the second Blacksticks installment. From the kick off, Bolton were under pressure with the Ashton forwards making strong carries. With the Bolton defence in disarray, quick hands from the Ashton backs saw the powerful outside centre in for the first score. This woke the Bolton boys up and from the long kick off, Ashton were penned inside the 22, with Regan Brown and Marcus Crompton prominent with big hits. A loose pass from Ashton was picked up by the Ashton centre just inside his own 22, with the Bolton defence flat footed he was able to skip through the forwards before outpacing the covering backline to score under the posts. This was quickly followed by his third as slack tackling left a huge gap and no second invitation was required. Despite a fairly even contest with the Bolton forwards more than a match for their hosts, the half time score was 17-0 to Ashton.
Needing the next score to keep the match going, Bolton once again used the power of the forwards with Oliver Lambert and Luke Bagnall supported by Harry Moxham taking the ball deep inside the Ashton half. A break by Kynan Smith who linked with Addison Kennedy took play inside the 22. Issac Prescott drove for the line and with the ball quickly recycled, Callam McGaughey picked and drove over for the score. The remainder of the match was fairly even with Bolton starting to get the upper hand but with the last play, once again the Ashton centre found himself in space, stretched his legs for another 50m sprint for his fourth score.
Final score Ashton-under-Lyne 26, Bolton 5