Ramsbottom United 2 Clitheroe 3

After Saturday’s titanic encounter with Mossley, Clitheroe almost succumbed to a well signalled sucker punch as they fell two behind after 19 minutes away at bottom placed Ramsbottom, with possibly their worst 30 minutes of football of the season. Normal service was slowly resumed thereafter and by the end, the margin of victory could have been much greater.

As the Clitheroe fans settled down to a comfortable evening, a mix up within the Rammy defence as early as the fourth minute confirmed expectations. However, this raw and youthful side recently assembled by new manager Dave Chadwick, hustled and hassled the Clitheroe team and threw them out of their stride as they sat back. One minute later, a catastrophic misplaced Clitheroe pass was easily driven forward by the opposition and slotted in across Chris Thompson.

Clitheroe were sluggish to respond and lacked a cutting edge or urgency, and it was no surprise when a double blunder by Richie Baker and Lee Pugh handed the ball to the aggressive Rammy centre forward who dispatched the ball with ease. It took until the half an hour mark for the Clitheroe side to shake off the lethargy and finally to come back into the game. Three quick corners for Clitheroe showed intent, including a great point blank save from Sefton Gonzales.

Belief started to return and from a long throw from Pugh on 40 minutes, Gonzales hit the bar and the follow up shot from Reece Webb-Foster was cleared off the line. One minute later, a pin point corner from Baker found Gonzales’ head and he thundered the ball home. This shook the home side and from a melee shortly afterwards, the Ramsbottom centre back received a straight red for stamping on Sidi Sanogo Fofana.

Jamie Edwards came on for the injured Danny Wilkins at half time and with Ramsbottom hastily rearranging the team in a defensive shape, the second half belonged to the visitors. On 53 minutes, Max Cane saw his shot blocked after a great overlapping run by Darren Holden. One minute later, Jacob Hanson gave a short pass to Gonzales, and he deflected the ball to Webb-Foster who scored with ease. Two minutes later Gonzales saw a fierce shot narrowly deflected wide, whilst Cane broke free against the keeper and was foiled by a brave save.

On 59 minutes, Edwards received the ball 40 yards from goal and his jinking diagonal run took him to the edge of the box where he drove the ball home, to give Clitheroe the lead. For much of the rest of the half, Clitheroe were at times queuing in the box to score, but Thompson had to be on his toes as the clock ticked down as Ramsbottom tested him with a couple of rare forays forward.

When the whistle went, the players knew this had not been a classic display, but at this stage of the season, three points was all that mattered.

Team: Chris Thompson, Jacob Hanson, Darren Holden, Richard Baker (c), Lee Pugh, Cameron Lancaster, Reece Webb-Foster, Sidi Sanogo Fofana (Jamie Nicholson), Sefton Gonzales, Danny Wilkins (Jamie Edwards), Max Cane. Subs - Jamie Edwards, Jamie Nicholson. Not used - Jack Burrows, George Bristol.