IT could have been more, but Wilmslow Hockey Club’s ladies were forced to settle for three in their victory over Bolton.

Wilmslow seemed set for a comfortable victory with two goals in the first half.

Carla Botha and Lindsay Rachubka caused the Bolton defence many problems, while Emilie Kelman and Annika Hall proved dominant in midfield, but as the game progressed the goals failed to flow.

The tangerines’ defence was as solid as ever but one slight chink in their armour was a vulnerability against pace.

Bolton’s young forwards did occasionally break out of the orange stranglehold and from one attack in the second half won a penalty stroke which gave keeper Cat Lang the unusual task of retrieving the ball from the Wilmslow goal in a 3-1 win.

Wilmslow’s men fell 2-1 at home to Harrogate as they continued their poor run of results against Yorkshire sides.

However, this was a spirited performance matching a very fast, top-of-the-league side.

The tangerines still missed their injured captain, Ben James, but they were boosted by the return of Pete Hallinan who caused a few problems for Harrogate with his trademark trickery.

Some solid defending, especially from the two Wrights – Martin and Jack – kept the game scoreless until Harrogate broke the deadlock close to half time.

In the second half Ben Jones scored an excellent solo goal – just reward for a fine aggressive attacking display.

With the scores level self belief started to return David Boddie was matching the opposition for pace and Tom Davenport for skill. but Harrogate scored a late winner.

Wilmslow’s seconds looked to be coasting against Macclefield with a 2-0 lead however they let themselves get distracted by some doubtful decisions and bad discipline allowed Macc to run out 3-2 winners.