Old Boltonians Res 4 Astley Bridge 1

The Reserves recent run of good form continued with this hard fought win against Astley Bridge, as they made it 4 games unbeaten and pushed them up to the lofty heights of 5th in the table. On a cold blustery day up at Turton, Bolts started brightly with the on loan 4th teamer Ross Taylor dominating the midfield. An early through ball by Cris Beardall sent Ryan Hardwidge through and he made no mistake with his finish,1-0. It was almost a carbon copy 5 minutes later as once again Cris Beardall split open the Astley Bridge defence and Ryan Hardwidge won the 50/50 challenge with the keeper and knocked the ball "eventually" into an open net. 2-0.

Astley Bridge were given a lifeline by the referee 10 minutes before halftime, as he adjudged Neil Davies had handled in the area. Dave Hopkins saved the initial penalty but the referee said the Bolts defence had encroached in the area and asked for the penalty to be re-taken. The striker made no mistake with his 2nd effort - 2-1.

Early in the season that goal could have seen the Reserves heads drop but there is a new found resolve in the squad and they went straight up the other end and grabbed a 3rd, through a Ross Taylor header just before half time, 3-1.

Astley Bridge started the 2nd half brightly but despite some neat football they created very little as the solid defence kept them at bay. Bolts looked bright on the counter attack but couldn't finish their chances until a Ryan Hardwidge cross was put into his own goal by the Astley Bridge centre half. 4-1.

Bolts missed further opportunities to increase the lead, with Ryan Hardwidge desperate for another goal that would have taken him to top goal scorer in the club, missing the best of the chances.

A good solid team performance by Bolts with many positives to take especially with the amount of young players in the side.

MOM Ross Taylor (don't think the 4ths will have him for long)