10 men clitheroe scored in the 90th minute to equalise and deny league leaders Darlington FC their 8th win in a row. A Sefton Gonzales tap in from inside the six-yard box following poor Darlington defending secured what Manager Simon Garner called a “thoroughly deserved” point.

Both sides went for the attack, a goalless first half was a base for an exciting second in which Clitheroe stayed on par with the Evo-Stik North leaders until a Terry Gilbraith header found the goal at 63 minutes. The equaliser was followed by what appeared to by a stray elbow from Blues right midfielder Daniel Wilkins, the ensuing chants of “Off” from the 1,000 home fans and crowding of referee Lindsey Robinson resulted in Wilkins being shown The red card at 80 minutes.

The match had a high tempo throughout with Darlington forward Stephen Thompson unlucky not to score in the opening 2 minutes, denied only by Clitheroe goalkeeper Stephen Dawber's crossbar following a cheeky dink outside the box. The home side dominated early on, forcing Dawber into action on a number of occasions.

However, The Blues came to life after the first ten minutes with sustained pressure on the Darlington defence resulting in Jay Hart finding himself one on one with The Quaker’s goalkeeper Peter Jameson, only to have his shot blocked by the Darlington number 1. Early in the second half it was Hart again who could count himself unlucky, a curling shot from just inside the box had Jameson beaten but not his left side post.

The draw gave debuts to both of Clitheroe’s newest recruits, Laquan Esdaille started at centre back whilst his fellow new arrival Carl Mercer was introduced in the second half for Jason Hart.

A sodden pitch caused debate before the match with referee Robinson conducting a pitch inspection an hour before kick off, although playable the drenched patches caused issues with the ball stopping in its tracks numerous times and flat unpredictable bounces caught the 22 men out.

Clitheroe manager Simon Garner was “delighted” with the draw praising the “brilliant” performance from his men in blue. The midfielder come manager highlighted The Blues’ slow start commenting: “we road our luck in the first five minutes” although the gaffer continued by praising his squads performance “I thought we were the better team over 90 minutes”.

Captain David Lynch also paid praise to his team mates: “I thought we were excellent today from start to finish”. The leading man added: “we’ve got to take confidence in that going into our coming game sin the Christmas period.”

Clitheroe remain in 12th place of the Evo-Stik First Division North trailing 2 points behind 11th place Harrogate Railway Athletic and 17 points from Darlington who retain top spot.

Attendance: 1,023

THE TEAMS:

Dawber; Morton, Bonaminio, Esdaille, Walker; Wilkins, Garner, Lynch, Burns (Dent 85); Gonzales, Hart (Mercer). Subs (not used): Palffy (GK), Bamba, Ralph

Jameson; Nearney (Galbraith), Brown, Hunter, Watson; Mitchell, Scott, Portas, Thompson; Purewal, Armstrong (Dowson). Subs (not used): Bell (GK), Young, Cocks