Too little, too late for Clitheroe

With the injury woes continuing and several other players missing it meant that 8 squad regulars were unavailable for this fixture. Therefore it was a blend of youth and experience which was called on to produce a reshuffled squad that faced Pendle at Littlemoor on Saturday.

Clitheroe kicked off, but it was Pendle who came charging back down the pitch through their forwards and scored two quick tries within the first 5 minutes as Clitheroe looked static and lethargic in response. Slowly, they started to play their way back into the game, with good pressure in the Pendle half – after one such sortie Pendle turned the ball over and ran in a further try which was unconverted. The score was 0 – 19 and the Maroon & Golds must have felt like they were staring down the barrel of a gun. Further pressure towards the Pendle line should have seen Clitheroe notch some points but Pendle were wily at the breakdown and despite giving away several penalties they managed to keep their line un-breached. They added another score before half time and at the turn round Clitheroe trailed by 26 points to nil.

There was a touch of Groundhog Day in the second half as Pendle again came out firing with two quick tries, which were both converted to move the score on to 0 – 40 in the visitors favour. From the re-start Clitheroe were galvanised into life, as with teams which have played little before together it had taken time for the team to gel properly. For the remaining 30 minutes it was all Clitheroe apart from the odd flash of an attack from Pendle which were unsuccessful in the final act.

Pendle have one of the best defences in the league and have been notoriously mean in gifting points away, therefore it was to the credit of the Maroon & Golds they continued to pester the Pendle line. Again, the gave repeated penalties away inside their own 22 yard area – but sadly the referee picked no greater sanction than the penalty itself, rather than go to his pocket to wave a yellow card. It was from one such penalty that prop Graves barrelled over near the posts to give Clitheroe their first points of the afternoon.

The further the match went on the more Clitheroe confidence grew, especially amongst the young squad members, Olly Greenwood having some good runs coming in off the wing while flanker Sam Thornber was getting more and more involved with his specialist aerodynamic body suit paying dividends. It was another young blood Joe Basquill who scored the next try with a searing run from deep, with the conversion taken a more respectable score line of 14 – 40 was returned at the final whistle.

While this defeat is hard to take, the gifting of 2 easy tries at the start of each half effectively gave Pendle a 28 point start, which is hard to peg back at any level. While Pendle were more aggressive at times and deserved their win, the referee could have played a bigger part at the breakdown.

Good performances from those that stepped into the breach while other squad members were unavailable and a full turnout at training will make selection very hard for the Maroon & Gold’s next match away to Vale of Lune 3rd XV.