The Colts had their first match of 2018 and their first home game in some time, hosting neighbours Burnley at Littlemoor. The late withdrawal of Aspin made things a little harder but the lads put that immediately behind them and got down to the business of taking the points on offer.

It wasn’t long before Clitheroe were on the board; 5 mins had elapsed when Clitheroe were awarded a penalty following a scrum infringement by Burnley. Wilkinson took the shirt side option on the left flank and jinked his way through to score the first try.

As is usual in previous fixtures, Burnley might have capitulated early on, however, this certainly didn’t happen. Burnley were showing some massive improvements both in forward and back play, stretching Clitheroe's mostly resolute defence. That said, when Clitheroe did get the ball and managed to string a few passes together without knocking on, they looked dangerous, especially when Duck found himself in space 30yds from his own line. He accelerated with aplomb through the tightest of gaps and was off an away, sprinting to dot down under the posts. The Burley defence had other ideas and managed to drag Duck down in the final few metres to save a sure-fire try. Excellent stuff indeed.

It was just before half time before Clitheroe struck again. This time, Rob Lee, who had a superb, Man of the Match performance from the boiler house, was presented with the ball following a high tackle penalty. He had much to do from around the 40 yard line but dummied beautifully and stretched his legs brilliantly all the way to the line for a superb score. After a missed conversion the half time whistle blew with Clitheroe commanding a 10-0 lead.

The start of the 2nd half remained close with Clitheroe’s defence withstanding everything Burnley could throw at them, and that was substantial! However, when Clitheroe managed to regain possession they’d cough it up as quickly as they received it with passes missing their man and balls being lost in contact.

10 minutes into the 2nd half and the passes started to stick. First, Wilkinson’s strong break on the left side saw prop Brown running at speed on his outside and a quick pass later Brown was sprinting away to score Clitheroe’s 3rd try. Soon after, Hamlet was on the scoresheet with a brilliant solo try. Starting just outside his own 22 he darted this way and that, evading all would-be tacklers to score. Finally, on 65 minutes, Hamlet found his fellow centre Stanley with a looping pass and Stanley scored the last home try of the day. A well-deserved Burnley try on the whilst frustrated Clitheroe but hopefully gave the visitors the fillip they need to drive forward on the improvement curve.

Overall, this was a satisfactory if scruffy victory, which consolidates Clitheroe in 5th place in the league. Next week they have another home game, this time with a chance to gain victory against Ormskirk, the team currently topping the league but one Clitheroe tested to some degree during the away fixture in late 2017. Kick off at Littlemoor next Sunday is 12:30pm.