Thornton Squelsh Past Clitheroe

‘You’ll be used to this sort of pitch!’ one of the Thornton officials quipped as Clitheroe splashed their way out on to a soggy saturated surface on Saturday.
He was, of course, referring to the once notorious Littlemoor mud bath field. Home from home? Well, not really. Because after incessant overnight rain on the Fylde flatlands, the surface was just about playable. This was only after some sterling remedial work in the hours before kick off when apparently they were quite literally bucketing water off the pitch.
Top draw credit to the Thornton ground staff.
However the testing conditions were to prove a deciding factor in the outcome of this game. Strength in depth on the bench to bring on fresh players to replace the mud sapped limbs was key to the home side’s victory.
Before the game Thornton were topped North Lancs 2 after a great start to the season. Whereas Clitheroe were languishing at the foot of the table with their best result a draw; the proverbial top v bottom encounter.
As with much of this season Clitheroe were again forced to ring the changes in personnel. Back in the pack came young Mark Piercy, after Kiwi back row Darren Eagle didn’t even last the warm up. The ubiquitous Scotsman, Struan Robertson regained his scrum half jersey, and although not 100% fit, Chris Waddington started in the centres along side the Skipper, Nathan Peel.
Clitheroe kicked off against the tide and soon warmed to their task. As with most games in this division, defence was the top priority. And the Littlemoor team were well briefed to concentrate fully from the start, especially as in previous weeks they had managed to ship a score almost immediately from the off.
Thornton are not top of the league for nothing, and they started in confident fashion, with the tight forwards driving close to the rucks and the 9,10, 12 axis pulling the strings.
Yet as hard as they tried there was always a wall of maroon and gold shirts in their way. Again and again the stone wall that was Clitheroe’s defensive line refused to yield. Every time Thornton seemed to make a half break, there suddenly seemed to be a scrambling swarm of Clitheroe players to snuff it out. Lock forwards Brian Hough and Martin Lafranceschina were leading the way, aided and abetted by props Jim Smith and Ben Graves, and hooker Richard Edmondson, in stemming the bulky tight forwards, and not allowing them to gain any momentum.
Any attacks slightly wider out were dealt with by the loose forward trio; Andrew Rigby, the evergreen sheep farmer, who never seems happy unless he has a trickle of blood, sometimes his own, running down his face. The colossus of the collision – Ross Chamberlain, restored to the No.8 shirt for today, had his best game of the season so far. Then the quiet man, Mark Piercy – a deceptively wiry specimen, doing a lot of the unseen nitty gritty work.
But it was not all defence for the Littlemoor team, they too had their moments: wing man James ‘Bicky’ Dickinson looked dangerous when he got the ball and a great counter attack saw him scorch up the wing, but the cover just got across to quell the attack.
At the back Stuart Railton settled well into the full back role, being safe under the high ball and a steadfast in the tackle.
Half time came and to the surprise of some it was just a solitary penalty to the home team to lead 3-0.
Thornton brought on some fresh legs after the interval and the effect was immediate. After a big shift at the coalface Clitheroe’s resources were threadbare. And when Thornton scored their first try after 10 minutes of the second half the writing was on the wall. Two more tries sealed it for seasiders and Clitheroe were running out of steam fast.
Another reshuffle was required when, influential three-quarter Dave Watson hobbled off, with Captain Peel slotting in at outside half.
Unbowed, very wet and muddy, Clitheroe survived till the final whistle with out conceding any more scores.
So a loss; but only after a tremendous Trojan team effort. The reverse could paradoxically be a turning point in Clitheroe’s fortunes.
As the team ethos and esprit de corps amongst the squad was remarkable and uplifting for anyone connected with Clitheroe RUFC.