Another bumper home crowd was treated to a full blooded encounter as both sides contended with deteriorating conditions. It also saw the full debut of young defender Bailey Sloane and a return for Max Cane on the subs bench.

Much of the first half belonged to Clitheroe, but it took 20 minutes for this to translate into clear cut chances. On 22 minutes, Ross Dent just failed to slide home a low cross from the left, whilst two minutes later Sefton Gonzales had his header saved at point blank range. The home side finally took the lead on 35 minutes after winning a free kick on the right hand edge of the box, when a smart short layoff saw Cole Lonsdale curl a delicious shot into the far corner.

As the rain set in and the teams came out for the second half, Clitheroe had the best possible start after Dent slipped McKenna in behind the defence and his cushioned shot with the outside of the boot saw the keeper clawing at thin air as it gently hit the back of the net. However, this signalled Prescot’s best period of the game. After Billy Priestley was penalised for a foul on the edge of the box, the visiting centre forward lifted the ball over the wall and had pulled a goal back before anyone could react. As the visitors started to put together a number of passes, the game became fractious and both sides were lucky to escape without a card being shown as a melee developed deep in the Prescot half. Clitheroe weathered this minor recovery and were soon back on the front foot. McKenna went close again on 63 minutes after being released by Jake Connelly, but his shot just went wide of the goal. The introduction of Terry Cummings provided a jolt of energy and four minutes after coming on, he started and almost finished a great period of interplay, with his final shot screaming narrowly over. The lead was finally extended on 77 minutes as Gonzales sprang the offside trap and headed straight for goal before unleashing an unstoppable shot which threatened to uproot the goal. The roar from the crowd when it went in echoed round town. Gonzales then turned provider and from his cross, Cummings earned the goal his cameo had deserved. Cane came on as substitute with minutes to go and went desperately close to scoring as he went one on one with the keeper and just pushed the ball round the post.

In the end, Clitheroe were breaking at will and threatened more goals, but this had been a hard fought victory in difficult conditions.

Team: Thompson, Burrows, Lonsdale, Wilkins, Sloane, Priestley, McKenna, Baker, Gonzales, Dent, Connelly
Subs (used) Cummings, Turner, Cane
Subs (not used) Jeanne, Edwards