Clitheroe 3 Furness 23

5:16pm Tuesday 12th February 2008

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CLITHEROE can take plenty of positives out of the defeat against Furness after more than matching the league leaders in commitment and restricting them to just two tries.

Furness opened up a 6-0 lead with two penalties within the first 10 minutes but did not score again until 25 minutes into the game when number eight Ollie McEntyre sliced a clearance in to the grateful arms of the Furness winger who cut inside well to score the game's first try.

But Clitheroe were unfazed by the scoreline and rampaged back up the field with good drives from the tight forwards which included Steve Dowson, returning to the second row berth following a long lay off through injury and the ever-improving young prop Aron Atkinson.

They were backed up admirably by the leaping salmon of a second row Ralph Rigby and the back row combination of McEntyre, Curphy and Goode.

In the backs Dave Watson showed some deft handling to bring strong-running centre Alex Hough into positions that enabled him to bust through the Furness midfield.

This pressure eventually told and an infringement by the Furness back row gave a kickable penalty attempt to young Declan Fitzhenry who was playing his first game at full back.

He duly slotted the penalty.

Furness finished off the half with another penalty to take the score to 16-3 to the visitors.

The second half proved to be even tighter than the first.

Matt Bartle, together with Dave Watson had particularly good games marshalling the defensive back line and time after time Clitheroe repelled the powerful runners from Barrow.

At the 55 minute mark, Rick Edmondson, who had had a good game up to this point, suffered a head injury and was forced to leave the field.

The Clitheroe players were not deterred and defended stoutly all over the field.

However, the pressure eventually told and the Furness outside centre showed good footwork and an exceptional line of running to beat a number of defenders to the line.

Clitheroe travel to North Manchester on Saturday and on this showing they are more than capable of bagging a win and moving up in the table.

• Click on the link below for our photo gallery from the game.