The Blues’ play-off hopes suffered a further blow as Pontefract Collieries came from behind to extend Clitheroe’s winless run to five games.
Phil Brown’s men led through a Craig Carney goal but allowed the Yorkshiremen to level just three minutes later. And the visitors then grabbed a winner early in a second half which saw the Blues fail to fire as they enhanced their own promotion hopes with a ninth away win of the campaign.

Facing a stiff wind in the first half, the Blues might have expected to be camped on the back foot. But after a riding out some early pressure they should have gone ahead after 10 minutes. Oscar O’Neill and Jake Connelly – the Blues’ brightest pair – combined along with Mitch George to create an opening for Jack Baxter the on-loan midfielder will be disappointed not to have taken on his home debut. But the combination of Connelly and O’Neill then opened up the Collieries’ defence again with Carney getting the final touch to force the ball over the line and put the Blues in front. They were worth their lead at that point but crucially it wasn’t protected for long enough as poor defending allowed the visitors straight back into the game.

Chris Thompson did his best to eradicate the danger with a fine save from Michael Dunn but again the Blues were slow to react and James Baxendale accepted the second opportunity to fire home the equaliser. The Blues continued to create chances on the break with Connelly a real threat down the left flank as he peppered the Pontefract penalty area and George lifted an effort over the top before Jacob Gregory fired wide from long range. But the visitors also went close with a Connor Smythe effort that hit the foot of the post and they then grabbed the lead eight minutes into the second half.

Substitute Jameel Ible punished another slow start from the Blues as he headed home from a corner and with their noses in front, Pontefract doggedly held onto the advantage. Clitheroe struggled to rediscover their cutting edge in a stop-start second period with chances hard to come by. But with 15 minutes to go they could have grabbed a point. Danny Gray’s deep cross reached substitute Terry Cummings, but he shot too close to goalkeeper Sebastian Malkowski, who then touched over the follow-up from O’Neill.

Pontefract missed a late chance through the lively Brad Dockerty to give themselves added breathing space but had already done enough to continue their climb with a repeat of the scoreline in place when the reverse meeting was abandoned late on due to floodlight failure 11 days ago.

Clitheroe: Thompson; Gregory, Stanley (Foulds 72), Muir, Gray; O’Neill, Baxter; Connelly, Carney, Gaul (Cummings 67); George (Wood 80). Substitutes: Russell.

Pontefract: Malkowski; Greenhough, Clarke, Picton, Smythe; Baxendale, Cromack, Bailey (Ible HT), Dunn (Williams 83); Lumsden, Dockerty. Substitutes: Williams, Jeffs, Lax.

Referee: John Mulligan

Attendance: 388