Mancunians rugby league man-of-the-match David Keane insisted his young side shouldn’t be left too downhearted after Bolton Mets thrashed them.
A strong second half from the visitors saw the Mancunians faily to build ont heir promising start against Westhoughton Lions, succumbing to a 10-56 defeat.
But Keane insisted his side can feel proud of their display and can learn from it.
“The difference on the day was that Bolton Mets had that bit more experience than us,” said Keane.
“We can hold our heads high, with young guys like Kevin Pike playing his heart out and 17-year-old hooker Mike Maguire punching above his weight week in, week out.”
Mancunians were still in the game at the start of the second half, but six post-interval tries sealed what was an impressive performance by the Greater Manchester visitors.
For the first 15 minutes of the game, Mancunians seemed to have the upper-hand, using their pace and determination to almost cross the line twice.
Yet the clinical finish was all that escaped the home-side and Bolton forced their way over the line from a well-worked penalty on the wide left – the conversion missed.
Despite strong efforts from Mancunians, they found themselves 0-22 down at the break and hoping for a change in fortune after the restart.
Guy Butler caught the kick off and charged forward, firing up the home side and setting the tone for what would become a spirited Mancunians second half performance.
However, Bolton soon found their way through the Mancunians line, scoring two more counter-attacking tries in quick succession,
Substitute Scott Fisher finally got the Mancunians on the scoresheet, but Keane missed the conversion leaving the Mancs 4-40 down.
Butler then side-stepped over the Bolton line to make up for his earlier handling error, while Keane kicked what were to be the home side’s last points of the game.
Bolton Mets were to crash through a tired Mancunians defence two more times before the final whistle.
Mancunians travel to the outskirts of Wigan next weekend to face New Spring Lions in the North West Mens Division 4.
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