BOLTON Under-18s put their injury problems beside them in recording a 34-12 victory against third-placed Liverpool St Helens at Avenue Street.

The hosts got off to a storming start with Mason Lockley powering over in the first minute for an unconverted try but St Helens hit back with a try by their fly-half to level the scores.

Ryan McClusky was an inspirational figure for the home side and he put Bolton back in front again powering over from close range with spare men outside to make it 10-5.

Tom Hill and Josh Holmes linked up well in midfield and gave Adam Hackin a yard of space to find a gap and he popped the ball to Joey Gore.

The move continued at pace and Lockley grabbed his second touchdown for Bolton.

With Jacob Walker missing due to an ankle injury Harry Kay and Connor Orrell took over the propping duties and with Matt Chowdhury winning a good share of St Helens' scrum ball and George Weston and Mason Lockley’s support from the second row ensured the Bolton pack looked a force.

Adam Kazmi entered the fray at half time for the impressive Rohan Patel and the look in Adam’s eye showed how pleased he was to be back after a leg injury. Ciaran Bach had brought a lot to the superb Bolton work in the breakdown in the first period and he also took a well deserved rest with Paddy Hargreaves and Jonny Wallis coming into the game. Coach Jonathan Hill also brought on Sam Smith at full back to give Charlie Hardern a well deserved chance to get his breath back after some lovely runs in the first period.

Early pressure after the interval paid off and led to an unconverted try for Smith.

The visitors lost possession and Josh Holmes made St Helens pay.

He sprinted up the left wing outpacing defenders after a wonderful hand-off gave him space. He then jinked off his right foot to sprint away to score under the posts to leave the score-board reading 27-12.

Adam Kamzi put the icing on the cake as he ripped the ball clear at the breakdown and then outpaced the defence to score under the posts.

Elsewhere, the u12s took on Ashton but fell short in a hard-fought match losing 11-7.

Bolton started the stronger and their possession and territory paid off early on with Sam Atherton forcing his way over the line to score.

They quickly found themselves on the backfoot though as Ashton responded with a try of their own.

The game swung first one way and then the other as the teams traded tries with Atherton scoring again and George Jackson also ending up on the scoresheet. Relative newcomers Oliver Keogh and Harvey Pollitt each rounded off good running moves to give Bolton a slender lead at half time.

Ashton were quicker out of the blocks as the second half kicked off and, despite a try for Ben Price and Atherton touching down for his hat-trick, the opponents were too strong.

In the final five minutes Ashton scored quickly and left Bolton with too big a mountain to climb.

Meanwhile, after last week's victory, the u14s were brought down to Earth with a bang as they lost 82-17 to Leigh.

Bolton boys had no answer to the swift handling, strong running and superb recycling of this Leigh team and found themselves trailing 56-0 at the break.

The second half started in a similar vein with a very quick score for Leigh but this sparked Bolton into life.

Strong driving from Callam McGaughey, then Ibrahim Dipoti, Harry Moxham set up Josh Aspinwall for a Bolton score converted by Marcus Crompton.

From the kick off Bolton were straight back on the attack with Ed Webster catching and driving into the Leigh forwards, Bradley Martin was on hand with Myles Crook and Benji Williamson to create quick ruck ball, Robert Harris passed to Jack Phillips who found Kynan Smith in space, Kynan drew the last defender and passed to Josh Parry who sprinted clear of the defence for a great try.

Leigh responded with two more before Luke Bagnall scored a try but despite an improved second half display they still lost.