The occasional blizzard could not hide the fact that this was the most comprehensive demolition since the Dam Busters. Not even the standard first five minute blip could put the Blues out of their stride and for most of the game, they looked like scoring with every attack. And there were a lot of them.

Defending into the strong wind, the Blues were on the back foot early doors, and when Moke burst free and crossed the ball into the box, it was a Jimmy Walker header off the line which saved the day. Three minutes later a couple of soft Blue defensive challenges could not clear the lines and Woodhead was called upon to make a full length save. At this point, the away team woke up.

On 10 minutes, Garner released Brady whose looping cross saw Dent cushion a close range volley home. On 17 minutes, the unplayable Gonzales flicked on to Mayers and his snap shot drew a great save. On 20 minutes there was a passage of brilliant interplay which came to nothing, before the home team failed to clear their lines and Chris Lynch coolly drove the ball in from the edge of the box through a crowd of players. On 27 minutes, Barski lofted a deep cross which saw Harries only just fail to half volley the ball home at full stretch. However the tide was proving unstoppable and after 37 minutes, Gonzales forced his way free, saw his first shot parried, but made no mistake with the rebound.

David Lynch replaced Barski and the level of domination went up another notch. On 57 minutes, the indefatigable Dent took the ball on the edge of the box and curled his shot wide. One minute later he was flattened in the box but no penalty was given. On 62 minutes, Gonzales took the ball and would not be shrugged off before he released Harries down the left, who took the ball to the bye line, crashing into the boards in the process, before he crossed for Dent to notch his second. One minute later Dent was again free in front of goal but he blazed over.

On 70 minutes, substitute Bakkor released Gonzales down the left and he found an extra yard of pace as he hared towards goal before comprehensively slamming it in at the near post.

The last 20 minutes were all Clitheroe pressure, with Walker overlapping well and lobbing delicious crosses into the box which just failed to find an away forward. The only blemish on the scoreline was a challenge in the box by Garner after a mazy Ossett run which led to a converted penalty.

Finding a man of the match was hard. Garner rolled back the years by 10 years as he controlled midfield, Gonzales looked like the school bully, he was so dominant, but everyone’s nod went to Ross Dent. Fearless and tireless as ever, he was playing in a more advanced position than usual and caused utter chaos.

Clitheroe XI:
Woodhead, Heywood, Walker, Chris Lynch, Brady, Garner, Harries, Dent, Gonzales, Mayers, Barski
Subs: Bakkor, Bonaminio, Willoughby, David Lynch, Cattermole