Workington 2 Clitheroe 0

Clitheroe were unable to progress to the play off final last night in Cumbria but left with heads held high after a fully committed performance. In perfect conditions, the Blues could not reward the 150 travelling fans out of a crowd of more than 1,600 with victory but were warmly applauded from the pitch for an excellent season.

From the outset, Workington showed a hunger to chase and to harry, and with an experienced front line looking to exploit the large pitch, the Clitheroe defence always had to be on its toes. The first two chances fell to the home side, but with slightly more composure Richie Baker could have taken the lead on four minutes when a ball came loose after a sublime piece of skill by Marc Pugh on the left but he skewed his shot wide under little pressure. As the game settled down, it was disappointing when Pugh limped off the pitch and was replaced by Abimbola Obasoto with barely 15 minutes gone. On 21 minutes, Sefton Gonzales narrowly failed to help Callum Harris spring the offside trap as he sprinted through, but this was a rare spell of Blue pressure in the scheme of the game. The whole mood changed on the half hour mark, when a desperately soft penalty was given as Billy Priestly shepherded an attacker away from goal, and the resultant spot kick was cooly converted. Jacob Hanson was Clitheroe’s stand out player at right back, but even his trademark overlaps were being snuffed out by the immediate attention of the home players. Billy Priestley had the ball in the net after 36 minutes, but Gonzales had been ruled out for offside earlier in the move before he headed home. The half ended as it started with waves of Workington attacks, and whilst the Blue defence snuffed out clear chances, the pressure was ominous.

The second half started badly when Obasoto, who had looked lively, was crudely hacked down and limped off to be replaced by John McGrath. The temperature of the game increased if not the quality of play, with the ball rarely sticking with the Blues as Workington relentlessly broke up play. On 72 minutes, Hanson overlapped on the right and his effort was narrowly smothered, before McGrath was fouled on the short edge of the box. The free kick was driven in and Cameron Lancaster got his head to the ball five yards out, but could only apply the merest of touches as it went agonisingly past the post. To add insult to injury, Workington broke free and as Clitheroe threw in an unsuccessful sliding tackle and gave the ball away, a regular thorn in Clitheroe’s side over the years, David Symington, hit the ball home. Still Clitheroe tried to get back in the game, but despite a number of half chances for Gonzales as the clock ticked down, Clitheroe could have little complaint about the outcome when the whistle blew.

Team : Chris Thompson, Jacob Hanson, Darren Holden, Richard Baker, Cameron Lancaster, Billy Priestley, Reece Webb-Foster, Ross Dent (c), Sefton Gonzales, Callum Harris (Jamie Edwards), Marc Pugh (Abimbola Obasoto (John McGrath)). Subs - Abimbola Obasoto, John McGrath, Jamie Edwards. Not used - Sidi Sanogo Fofana, Jack Burrows.