Coming into this Clitheroe were riding high on the back of a convincing 3-1 victory on the road to Darlaston at the weekend. As for Nantwich, they were in a similar position with back-to-back victories over Trafford and Chasetown leaving them confident ahead of this tie at The Swansway Stadium.

Clitheroe started off the game with unfortunate early injury to Jordan Windass that saw him replaced by Cameron Bell in the 3rd minute.

The first real chance of the game fell to Clitheroe in the 19th minute when Jake Carroll hit a powerful free kick from the edge of the box but Ben Garratt got a strong hand to it.

Shortly after in the 21st minute, Lewis Trickett had a golden opportunity to take the lead when he took the ball round Garratt but it was blocked off the line by Perry Bircumshaw.

The first goal of the game went to Nantwich however when Fenton Green picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area before firing the ball over James McClenaghan to make it 1-0 in the 38th minute.

Clitheroe, now galvanised by the deficit, grabbed an equaliser on the stroke of half time in the 45th minute after Josh Briggs fizzed a ball into the Nantwich box and was tapped home by Luke Gill.

Half Time: Nantwich 1-1 Clitheroe

Into the second half and Nantwich came out on the front foot with an early goal in the 54th minute after Alex Panter received a low ball into the box before turning and getting a shot off that beat McClenaghan.

The home side then extended their lead when a long ball from the Nantwich defence caused a mix up at the back for Clitheroe that led to Byron Harrison running through on goal and making it 3-1 in the 69th minute.

All hope was not lost for Sean Mconville’s side however when a deflected shot from Leon Creech landed perfectly to Veron Parny just outside the box who rocketed it into the bottom corner in the 87th minute.

[b]Full Time: Nantwich 3-2 Clitheroe

With this result, Clitheroe drop down one place into 14th but they don’t have long to wait as they are back in action on Saturday October 25th when they look to further extend their trophy run as they take on Stockton Town in the first round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.