Kidsgrove 2 Clitheroe 1

Clitheroe fell to their third defeat in four games as they went down to a workmanlike Kidsgrove side and in the process extended the Blues’ dreadful record against their hosts.

With heavy rain throughout the week, the pitch was heavy and not conducive to swift pass and move football, and settled more often into attritional long ball exchanges, with little by way of quality. Kidsgrove had their first chance on 8 minutes from a break after a Lee Pugh error, and it was not until the 15th minute before Max Cane has the first Clitheroe chance with a solid header from a Pugh cross. Callum Leigh had his best game in a Clitheroe shirt as he returned to one of his former clubs, and he drove a snapshot narrowly over from distance on 18 minutes.

The tone of the game changed when Pugh was dispossessed on 21 minutes, and as Kidsgrove piled down the hill on the counter, Cameron Lancaster slid in to block the final shot, but was adjudged to have the clipped the standing leg of the attacker. Chris Thompson only just failed to turn away the resultant penalty. Jamie Edwards was flattened on the edge of the box shortly after, but apart from earning the home defender a yellow card, the free kick was wasted.

Richie Baker forced a smart save at the near post on 33 minutes and finally Clitheroe settled into a solid period of possession albeit with no real cutting edge. As the clock ticked down to half time, from another break, Thompson made a sharp save from a shot from distance and then pulled off a superb fingertip save from the follow up. With the final kick of the half, the corner drifted away from goal, only for a Kidsgrove player to head in unchallenged on the edge of the box, and for the ball to go in off the far post.

Clitheroe rang the changes in the second half and brought on Sefton Gonzales, who had been laid low through illness for several weeks. The change was almost instantaneous as Kidsgrove’s defensive unit regrouped to deal with the new threat. Cane had an early sight of goal as he twisted and turned on the edge of the box, but his shot went across the face of goal. On 51 minutes, Cane was then fouled on the edge of the box, and from a great Baker free kick the ball was dinked to Cameron Lancaster who headed home.

The game was now starting to open up, with Leigh having another piledriver skim the bar before a trademark Pugh throw bounced agonisingly in the box but with no touch applied. As the home side brought their players back to defend and looked to catch Clitheroe on the break, the game slipped into something akin to trench warfare. The major chances for an equaliser fell to Gonzales on 87 minutes, when he received the ball from substitute Waqas Azam after a mazy run and his shot was superbly turned for a corner. His looping header from the corner was then cleared off the line by a defender and the final chance to equalise had passed.

Att. 189

Team : Chris Thompson, Jack Burrows, Lee Pugh, Richard Baker (c), Cameron Lancaster, Billy Priestley, Max Cane, Charlie Russell (Waqas Azam), Jamie Edwards (Malick Diakite), Callum Leigh, Reece Webb-Foster (Sefton Gonzales). Subs - Sefton Gonzales, Waqas Azam, Malick Diakite. Not used - Darren Holden.