Albert Park 21 Bolton Mets 6

ALBERT Park made it seven straight wins in division four of the North West Counties league.

Bolton must have caught the home defence cold on their first attack when second row man went through some tackling to score wide out. The conversion gave Bolton an early 6-0 lead.

The Albert began to gradually get back in the game and after a couple of near misses a long ball from Chris Walton found wingman Jimmy Mellor who raced in at the corner.

They were now starting to click into gear and, with the front row of Dicks, George and Snowling working tirelessly, it wasn't long before they took the lead when, on the last tackle, the whole Bolton defence stood back waiting for a kick.

Walton had other ideas and sliced through the defence for a fine individual effort. He added the extras giving them a 10-6 half-time lead.

The Albert had to withstand more Bolton pressure early on but the Albert defence was up to the task and kept their line intact with some powerful tackling.

Half-time replacement Alex Taylor soon made his mark on the game with a strong run and off-load to the supporting Ian Scott who raced 40 yards only to be tackled just short.

He soon made up for this when on the next attack a neat little kick through from Walton found Scott who timed his run perfectly to regather and score wide out. Walton added the conversion making it 16-6.

This was soon increased when a stray Bolton pass was intercepted by the alert Scott who raced 40 yards for a fine try.

The conversion was missed but a drop goal to Walton wrapped up the scoring giving the Albert a deserved and vital win.

This was a very good performance by the Albert, probably the best of the season so far, and it needed to be against a Bolton side that played very well and helped towards making an entertaining game.

This was the Albert's final game before the Christmas break and they have to wait until January 11 before their next game when they take on local rivals Widnes Ball in what should be an intriguing game between the division's top two teams.