Stalybridge Celtic 1 Clitheroe 0
Clitheroe put in a much improved, incisive performance compared to Saturday, but despite dominating large parts of the game, they were undone by a piece of sloppy defending to leave Stalybridge pointless.
The home side were keen to impress their new manager, but it was Clitheroe who had the ball in the net after five minutes, only for Javaun Splatt to be penalised for an apparent infringement. Splatt was certainly lively in the early stages and took advantage of the right wing on a number of occasions. On 23 minutes, Richie Baker was dispossessed in the centre circle and the speculative lob which cleared Hakan Burton only drifted wide of the post by a narrow margin. Ten minutes later, the home fans were baying for an infringement on the edge of the box as Mark Hughes tussled with a striker, but the referee waved play on. On 36 minutes, the excellent Emerich Poilly was played through by Splatt, and his precise shot bent round the defenders but hit the post. Dylan Dwyer and Jacob Hanson had been getting progressive joy down both flanks and it was Dwyer who cut in minutes later from the left and forced a great save from the impressive Celtic keeper. As the half time whistle beckoned, Baker lost the ball in a dangerous position and as a swift counter attack flowed down the pitch, Burton narrowed the angle and pulled off an excellent save, tipping the shot on to the bar.
The second half saw Clitheroe playing up the slope and the home side inexplicably turned into a long ball side and barely threatened the Clitheroe goal. The Clitheroe centre backs of Charlie Hayes-Green and Sam Olawumi both had bulldozing runs only foiled at the death. On 60 minutes Ross Dent put in a fine diving header to a Dwyer cross and it flashed narrowly across the face of the goal. Minutes later, Hanson burst again down the flanks, laying the ball to Olawumi whose pass to Dent just failed to get out from his feet. One minute later, Hanson ran 30 yards and forced a finger tip save. From the resultant corner, the ball came out to Olawumi who hit the bar. From one of their only attacks in the half, Celtic earned themselves a corner on 76 minutes. The regulation corner caused unexpected mayhem with bodies lying everywhere and a home striker took advantage to prod home. Jimmy Bell rang the changes and the Clitheroe pressure continued. As the clock ticked down, substitute Luke Gill thumped a header goalwards only for it to be tipped on to the bar.
It was clear it was not going to be Clitheroe’s night, but with an armful of away games coming up in November, the Blues will quickly need to learn to convert dominance into goals.
TEAM: 1 Hakan Burton, 2 Jacob Hanson, 3 Dylan Dwyer, 4 Sam Olawumi, 5 Mark Hughes, 6 Charlie Hayes-Green, 7 Emerich Poilly, 8 Richard Baker (C), 9 Javaun Splatt, 10 Veron Parny, 11 Ross Dent. SUBS USED: 14 Jake Connelly, 15 Luke Gill, 17 Connor High. Not Used: 12 Sean McConville, 16 Matthew Clarke.