CLITHEROE gave their loyal supporters an early Christmas present and plenty of cheer as they swept aside Northern League side West Auckland and booked their place in the last 32 of the FA Vase.

The opening minutes were a frantic affair with both teams having plenty of attacks.

On 20 minutes Clitheroe broke the deadlock when a great back heel from Jon Riley found Clive Dunn who burst into the box, the defender's late challenge caught the heels of Dunn, and the referee rightly awarded the penalty.

Experienced FA Vase man Simon Westwell sent the keeper the wrong way and started the Blues' onslaught.

As half-time approached the Blues looked to be going in with a one goal lead, but co-manager Gary Butcher had other ideas and with three minutes to go he latched onto a punched clearance from the Auckland keeper and smashed the ball home.

The Blues weren't finished yet and in injury time in the first-half a Dennis Hill effort could only be palmed to Riley who reacted the quickest and slotted the ball home.

In the second half Clitheroe looked as though they would increase their lead on 66 minutes when recent signing Anthony McCluskey picked the ball up just inside the half. He played a one-two with Hill, stepped inside a defender and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner.

Clitheroe continued to press forward. Neil Otley found himself switched to the left wing following the substitution of Hill. His now legendary mazy run at defenders resulted in his shot at goal being deflected off a defender over the keeper but it rebounded back off the bar.

Man of the match Andy Darbyshire was revelling in his striker-provider role, and it was his cross which found Otley who laid a perfect through ball to McCluskey whose first time shot was goal-bound, but the keeper pulled off a super save.

With only four minutes to go Andy Rouine claimed Clitheroe's fifth with a well-taken goal after drawing the keeper and slotting home.

In injury time Otley capped a solid, quality performance from the Blues when he cut in from the right and his accurate shot fired into the near corner.

Clitheroe have another big game tonight when they play Haslingden at Shawbridge in the third round of the Floodlit Trophy.

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