Garstang was the venue for an early season tester for the 1st XV on Saturday. The weather forecast was not good and hopes that it would prove reliably inaccurate were dashed, as the light but incessant drizzle at the beginning of the game turned to persistent rain by half time.

Clitheroe were forced to ring the changes for this game with players unavailable or injured, in came James Dickinson and Sam Thornber into the pack and Adrian Davies and Sam Morgan into the back line.

A decent start for the maroons was an early cheer for the well waterproofed hardened travelling support, when a straightforward penalty from Jack Stanley put three points on the board for the visitors.

After a bit of to and fro-ing Clitheroe forced a strong territorial position; and after some repented thrusts from the big lads James Dickinson squeezed through a chink in the defence for the try. Stanno converted and Clitheroe we looking good value for a 10 point lead.

However there were danger signs just before the break as Garstang put the Clitheroe line under extreme pressure. But the maroon wall held till the interval.

The second period really belonged to Garstang. They had most of the territory, forcing Clitheroe to play out from deep. The home side scored four tries and Clitheroe had no answer.
Although the set piece was largely even, Garstang excelled at the breakdown and profited of the back of some clever jackalling and pushing the ruck laws to the extreme.
Although under the pump in the second 40 minutes, Clitheroe sensed they were never completely out of it. To their credit they were pounding the Blues line on the stroke of no side and even got over only to have the ball held up.

So a frustrating game from Clitheroe's perspective and they can definitely look forward to the return game in January with some confidence.

Clitheroe slip to 5th in Counties Lancashire 3. No 1st XV game this week, but table toppers Thornton Cleveleys are the visitors on the 14th October