An Actual Bolton Wanderers Success: Meet Bolton Ladies FC

With all the doom and gloom surrounding Bolton Wanderers at the moment, we wanted to bring you some positive news that has been strangely brushed under the carpet by the club.

Bolton Wanderers Ladies have had their best season in history and scored more goals than any other Bolton ladies' side in history, in stark contrast to their male compatriots' worst ever season.

Bolton Ladies finished second in the North West Womens Premier League, racking up 52 points and 84 goals from their 22 games - only losing twice all season. Interestingly, both of those losses were at home so they went the entire season unbeaten away from home. Only Crewe Alexandra finished ahead of Bolton, with the Cheshire side going the entire season unbeaten and winning 19 of their 22 games.

Not aware of this success or never heard of Bolton Ladies' team? Well you're not alone, as the club has never communicated their existence despite the team's standout success this season. So, who are Bolton Ladies?

Best Season Ever

Bolton Ladies have just finished second in the North West Regional Premier Division, which is five levels below the Women's Super League - which features the likes of England internationals and professional players playing for the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

As mentioned above, this has been Bolton Ladies' best season on record. They began the season in good form, defeating eventual third placed finishers Manchester Stingers 2-1 away in the opening game. This led to Bolton starting the season with a six game unbeaten streak before suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat at home to eventual champions Crewe.

Another six game unbeaten spell followed, including an 11-0 away thrashing of Northwich Vixens and completing a league double over Wigan Athletic, before a 2-1 home defeat against Crewe. The season ended with the side in fine form and an eight game unbeaten run, including a 16-0 thrashing of Northwich and a 6-0 win at Birkenhead.

Bolton finished the season as the highest scoring team away from home, with an impressive 44 goals in 11 away games. They also had the joint best home defence, conceding just nine in 11 games, and the second best attack and defence in the league.

This season also saw an impressive run to the Semi Finals of the Lancashire FA Womens Challenge Cup, which ended in a clash with eventual cup winners Blackburn Rovers, who are two leagues above Bolton and featured former Super League players who are paid to play. Bolton lost 5-1 but played superbly against a side far stronger on paper and have now won the trophy 11 times and played in 13 consecutive finals.

The season represents a huge improvement on recent campaigns, where they typically finished between fourth and seventh in the league - which they have been in since its formation in 2003 - so hopefully they can continue that form into next season.

Get Involved

The club are always looking for girls from the age of 5 to get involved in playing football, and have even caught the attention of Kevin Davies' daughter - judging by his Twitter feed. The club has girls' teams from Under 10s upwards, and a development centre for younger girls.

The first team plays games at the Eddie Davies Academy, off Lostock Lane, on Sunday afternoons, so if you're free on Sundays then do go along and support them.

For more information or to get involved in Bolton Ladies & Girls Football Club, visit their website or check out their Twitter page.

If you have any further information you think we should share about Bolton Ladies, let us know in the Comments section below or get in touch on Twitter.