Warrington controlled the majority of the first half and they were the first team to threaten either goal. Shaun Tuck flashed his 9th minute effort goalwards but Alex Palffy did well in the Clitheroe goal to push the effort over the bar.

Warrington’s control of the opening stages soon found them a goal, courtesy of Ben Wharton. Wharton span on the edge of the box and hit a floating effort goalwards which caught everybody including Palffy in the Blues goal off guard.

A matter of moments later and Clitheroe could have stolen an equaliser against the run of play when Jordan Preston found space inside the box. The Blackburn loanee did well to bring down the long ball over the top but his shot was tame and it rolled into the keepers’ grateful hands.

Palffy prevented Warrington doubling their lead as the game reached the half hour point, coming out bravely at the feet of a Warrington attacker to thwart any threat of a goal.

In the last 10 minutes of the first half Warrington did eventually double their lead. Scott Metcalfe won an aerial challenge for the ball on the edge of the box and as the ball dropped, the Town striker hit a Di Canio-esque scissor volley past the helpless Palffy.

With the score 2-0 at half time and Clitheroe still holding a foothold in the game, the last thing the Blues would have wanted was to concede an early second half goal and unfortunately that’s exactly what happened.

Only a matter of seconds into the second half Conor Roberts raced into the Clitheroe area before delivering a neat finish into the bottom corner of the away side’s goal, settling the game at the same time.

A couple of half chances fell Clitheroe’s way as they pushed to try and find a lifeline from the game. Firstly, substitute Bryn Potter zipped a low ball across goal but it evaded the Clitheroe attackers and was cleared to safety by the Warrington defence.

An ambitious Andrew Eaton volleyed effort from the edge of the box flew over the bar but it was positive signs for Clitheroe in the second half as they caused more regular problems for the home side’s defence.

Andrew Eaton continued to impress as the half wore on and the substitute rattled the bar with a left footed effort from range, the effort bouncing down but not quite over the goal line.

Palffy made a good reflex save to scramble a Liam Dawson header away from his goal in the last couple of minutes to keep the scoreline at 3-0.

Starting 11: Alex Palffy, Danny Morton, James Walker, Danny Brady, Adam Freeland, Simon Nangle, Simon Garner, Danny Wilkin, Jordan Preston, Dalian Barker, Ross Dent.
Subs: Andrew Eaton, Bryn Potter, Charlie Collinge, Scott Byrom, Louis Percival.