It was more of the same for Clitheroe on Tuesday night as the Blues suffered defeat on the road to Kidsgrove Athletic in a fixture that had already been postponed twice and was nearly called off again following a 30-minute kick-off delay due to broken floodlights.

It was another strong opening for Clitheroe, with an early chance falling to Leon Creech, whose cross was deflected onto the post by William Hardeman.

The Blues came agonisingly close again in the 15th minute when Josh Briggs fizzed a dangerous ball across the face of goal, but it went just beyond the reach of an outstretched Harry Scarborough boot.

Scarborough and Briggs linked up for another great opportunity on the stroke of half-time after the latter was played through on goal, before taking it round the keeper and hitting the side netting from a tight angle.

Half Time: Kidsgrove Athletic 0-0 Clitheroe FC

After the restart, Clitheroe continued to create chances, with Briggs and Jack Morris both finding themselves one-on-one with Ryan Brown, but the Kidsgrove shot-stopper came to the rescue and saved both efforts emphatically to keep the scores level.

However, against the run of play, The Grove were handed a penalty in the 72nd minute after Briggs was deemed to have handled the ball in the area. Nathan Stewart then converted the resulting spot kick, tucking it into the bottom right corner.

Stewart then doubled Kidsgrove’s lead just seven minutes later after a floated Jack Bromfield cross found the in-form forward, who beat his man to the ball and headed past Zac Hadi.

Full Time: Kidsgrove Athletic 2-0 Clitheroe FC

Another poor result for Clitheroe means they have now suffered a third consecutive 2-0 defeat despite creating enough chances to comfortably win the game. Sean McConville’s men will be once again looking to make amends as they travel to Congleton Town on Saturday, March 21.