Clitheroe fell to a 4-2 defeat on the road to Vauxhall Motors, yet scoring twice and creating chances offered encouragement amid a tough run of results.
Clitheroe came into the contest looking to bounce back from a midweek defeat at Trafford, against a Vauxhall side sitting just outside the play offs.
The home side took an early lead inside six minutes as Nicholas Rushton went through on goal and slotted the ball through Oliver Belizzia’s legs.
Vauxhall doubled their advantage soon after when Kyle Sambor’s flick on found Jebrin Jawad, who lobbed Belizzia from the edge of the area in the 10th minute.
It would have been three for the Motormen inside 20 minutes if it wasn’t for some Belizzia heroics, as he got a strong hand to a Jawad effort to push it over the bar.
Clitheroe pulled one back in the 32nd minute after some neat link-up play between Josh Briggs and Jack Morris, with Morris tucking home a cut back.
Briggs and Morris linked up again shortly after, but this time Calvin Hare reacted quickly to tip the effort over the bar.
However, as the visitors were searching for an equaliser, Vauxhall scored a third on the stroke of half time when a Benjamin Holmes free kick found Conor Harwood, who beat Belizzia to the ball and nodded it in.
Things didn’t improve for the Blues after the break as Vauxhall made it 4-1 in the 46th minute, after a mis hit clearance from Noah Halford fell kindly into the path of Sambor, who fired past Belizzia.
With the game all but done, Clitheroe grabbed a late consolation goal as Luke Gill won a penalty in stoppage time and converted the rebound after Hare guessed correctly.
This result leaves Clitheroe searching for their first league victory in three, but Sean McConville’s men return to the Loom Loft Stadium on Saturday 7th February, where they will look to use home advantage against Avro.
Share