Clitheroe had the best of the first half and it was no surprise when the Blues took the lead on 13 minutes, after Danny Gray released the returning Terry Cummings down the right. His run and squared pass saw Owen Watkinson upended in the box as he shaped to shoot, and a penalty was awarded. Connor Gaul made no mistake from the spot. Clear cut chances were proving elusive, but against the run of play on 30 minutes, Connor King was forced to make an astonishing point blank save at the feet of the Marine centre back. To compound matters, Marine’s key front man Mbalanda then conspired to put the ball over the bar from three yards out from the resultant corner. The wind was still in Clitheroe’s sails though and on 37 minutes, a pass from Cummings to Watkinson saw the latter shoot on the turn, with the Marine keeper making a brave save at his feet.

The game could have got away from Marine as early as the second minute of the second half, when Cummings received the ball from King and he galloped towards the Marine goal. He squared the ball to Gaul whose first time shot hit the post, before the follow up shot from Cummings went in but was ruled offside. This was the high tide mark of Clitheroe pressure and slowly but surely the visitors got themselves back into the game, using the pace of their full backs to put Clitheroe on the back foot. King was forced to make another superb save on 58 minutes, before a shot from the rebound hit the bar. It was no great surprise when Marine equalised from an inswinging corner, where the ball was bundled home amongst a scrum of players. Clitheroe freshened up their team with three substitutes, but still Marine applied pressure.

When the final whistle went, the consensus was that this was the best team we had played this season, and that a draw was a fair result.

Team : Connor King, Danny Gray, Jacob Gregory (Finlay Armstrong), Craig Stanley, Oliver Muir, Charlie Russell (c), Terry Cummins (Markell Foulds), Oscar O'Neil, Owen Watkinson, Craig Carney, Conor Gaul (Ollie Stirzaker). Subs - Markell Foulds, Ollie Stirzaker, Finlay Armstrong. Not used - Charlie Mulgrew, Tom Stead.