CLITHEROE put their troubles behind them in style to beat Skelmersdale Unit-ed and leap back into the Evo-Stik League First Div-ision North play-off places.

Peter Smith’s men had to dig deep to claim the three points at Stormy Corner and were forced to come from a goal down in order to claim their first win since November 23.

That lengthy spell was largely down to the big freeze - but the Blues had gone five games without success and their hopes of a sustained push at the right end of the table were looking slim.

And when Kevin Towey pounced to give Skem the lead eight minutes into the second half it appeared that more pain would be heading Clitheroe’s way.

However, they had a stroke of luck moments later when Towey should have grabbed his and Skem’s second only to fluff his lines at the big moment.

The Blues, who threw away a three goal lead in last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Cam-mell Laird, levelled the match on 70 minutes when Tom Will-iams and Darren Green combined to set up Ashley Parillion, who stroked home the equaliser.

And with their tails up, Clitheroe were in front three minutes later when Alex Porter brilliantly fired in the winner from the edge of the box.

The remainder of the game was end-to-end with both sides looking threatening without troubling the goalkeepers – and that was the story of the first period.

Skem had started the brightest and Clitheroe’s new goalkeeper Zach Hibbert made a couple of decent saves on his debut before the Blues got into the match and had chances of their own, which they failed to take.