Bolton Wanderers Under-18's snatched victory against Crewe Alex Under-18's, just as the Railwaymen were applying the pressure which looked set to give them all three points.

After a dour first half, and with the scores tied at 1-1, the Alex had begun to apply the pressure after the interval, causing numerous problems for Bolton's rearguard, but were stung on the break when Wanderers substitute Nathan Woolfe netted a late winner to end the Alex's four match winning run in the FA Premier Academy League.

Holland was able to welcome four players back to his starting line-up following the win over Wolves last time out, as Luke Danville, Thomas Lappin, Gareth Evans and Nick Farquharson all started, whilst Amari Morgan-Smith was back amongst the substitutes.

Bolton missed the first clear cut opportunity after just ten minutes, as Topi Obadeyi drilled wide following fine approach play from Tom Brookes, whilst at the other end Luke Murphy saw his goalbound thunderbolt rattle off the legs of his team-mate Evans, who simply couldn't get out of the way of the thunderbolt.

But in truth the first period was a scrappy affair, and it was a scrappy goal which handed Bolton the lead just after the half-hour mark. When the visitors were awarded a corner Obadeyi delivered the ball into the box were Robert Sissons was unmarked and able squeeze his header into the bottom corner of the net.

Ellison - Made some good saves

Things could have got worse before the interval as Bolton threatened once more, but goalkeeper Craig Ellison blocked bravely at the feet of Leslie Thompson, and as the loose ball rebounded dangerously, Danville was alert to the danger to hack a clearance away. 

It proved to be an important save by the former Altrincham keeper because, within minutes, Crewe were level and able to enter the changing rooms at half-time with parity restored.

This time it was the young Railwaymen who caused the probelsm from a set play as set-piece specialist Ashley Westwood floated a deep free-kick into the penalty area. Russell Courtney rose above the Bolton defence to head the ball down, and the predatory instincts of top scorer Byron Moore kicked in, as the Stoke based youngster pounced for his ninth of the season.

The second half was a much better showing by the Alex as, with Holland's words of advice ringing in their ears, they began to dominate.

Having lost Farquharson to a head injury in the first period, Steve decided to add Morgan-Smith to the action after the break to support Moore, and the duo began to reek havoc in the visitors defence.

That was before Ellison has made another fine stop, low to his left to deny Wolze, but soon Morgan-Smith and Moore were linking dangerously.

After 72 minutes Morgan-Smith held off several defenders before finding Moore, and his drive was only just kept out by the sprawling Robert Lainton, who was at full stretch to his right hand side. Minutes later the two linked again in the same fashion, and whilst this time Moore beight Lainton, who had charged off his line, his clever lob looped over the keepers head, bounced on the goaline, and up onto the post.

It was a piece of bad luck for the hosts, and their misery was compounded in the final ten minutes as Woolfe, fresh from the substitutes bench, found his way behind the Alex defence and drilled the winner into the bottom corner.

The goal visibly deflated the unlucky Alex players, but Ellison still had to remain on his mettle in the dying minutes as he made a breathtaking finger tip save from Thompson.

The Alex are next in action on Wednesday evening when they travel to Oldham Athletic in the FA Youth Cup First Round. Ticket News for the game can be found here.

Crewe: Craig Ellison; Ashley Westwood, Russell Courtney, Thomas Lappin, Luke Danville; Gareth Evans, Luke Murphy, James Bailey, Chris Clements; Byron Moore, Nick Farquharson.

Subs: Junior Brown, Amari Morgan-Smith, AJ Leitch-Smith, Dexter Ravenhill, Nathan Bancroft

Bolton: Robert Lainton, David Gbermie, Chris Stokes, Mark Charlesworth, Mark Ellis, Michael Roddy, Tom Brookes, Roberts Sissons, Leslie Thompson, Kevin Wolze, Topi Obadeyi.

Subs: Samuel Sheridan, Premyslaw Kazimiercak (Gk), Nathan Woolfe, Stuart McDonald, Kyle Bartley

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