Clitheroe 2 Ramsbottom 0

Clitheroe put their difficult weekend trip to Macclesfield behind them and immediately felt at ease on the green, green grass of home, as they secured their first points of the season.

Things could not have got off to a better start. Within the first minute, a deep cross from Lee Pugh was watched carefully over his shoulder by Sefton Gonzales and as he continued his run, he stabbed the ball home ahead of the advancing keeper. Unfortunately, that was almost immediately the end of Pugh’s contribution as he limped off. Max Cane was looking in bright form and he went on a mazy run and forced a smart save on 8 minutes, and by this point Clitheroe were fully in the ascendancy.

The lead was doubled on 20 minutes when a driven cross by Bailey Sloane saw Gonzales’ shot saved, Cane’s header was then parried before Gonzales forced the ball home. With the game at their mercy, if anything the Blues looked content to manage the game rather than to finish their opponents and looked very comfortable. Reece Webb-Foster forced a good save on 37 minutes, and Ramsbottom had their first chance of the game shortly after as they pinged a shot over. On the stroke of half time, Cane engineered a superb chance as he ran with the ball and forced a superb diving finger tip save to stop a certain goal.

Ramsbottom rang the changes early in the second half and looked a hungrier proposition. On 52 minutes, a mazy run down the Ramsbottom right, saw Chris Thompson forced to make a finger tip save from his first action of the night. Clitheroe almost extended their lead soon after as a deep free kick was headed back into the box and Gonzales could not quite arrange his body to get over the ball and his shot went over. Thompson was called upon to make another fine save on 66 minutes, but as the half progressed, Clitheroe imposed themselves again. Danny Wilkins twisted around the edge of the box bit could not loose off a clean shot, whilst Bailey Sloane sent a fierce shot narrowly outside the post after a mazy run.

Team : Chris Thompson, Waqas Azam (Jack Burrows), Lee Pugh (Bailey Sloane), Richard Baker, Cameron Lancaster, Billy Priestley, Max Cane, Danny Wilkins, Sefton Gonzales, Ross Dent (c) (Joel Byrom), Reece Webb-Foster. Subs - Bailey Sloane, Joel Byrom, Jack Burrows. Not used - Callum Leigh, Jamie Edwards.