Sport in association with


R o e f ie ld IH"- \ Thursday, October 7th, 2004 if ¥ believes Blues can Lee Sculpher by Adrian Capstick rv;


CLITHEROE player- manager Lee Sculpher has taken a realistic stance as to where he believes the club’s hopes lie this season and has answered the criti­ cism that has surrounded his team's recent poor run of results. The la s t four games,


three in the league and Saturdays PA Cup exit, all ended in defeat the worst of which was the 5-0 capit­ ulation to Kendal Town last Tuesday. But the Blues boss is


adamant that his side can see out this rough patch and work out their prob­ lems to obtain the team's original target of finishing a t least mid-table come next May. He said: “We can't com­


pete with the bigger sides in this league and I thing I'm being realistic when I


J i. say a mid-table position will be a very good finish for us this season. “If other people don't


think that then that's up to them, including no doubt people higher up than me at Clitheroe Foot-


my time doing things for the club, "watching games, training, on the phone and I'll continue to do that in an effort to get it right - I'm certainly not going to throw the towel in.” Looking at that recent


Friday, October 9th - ' Kick-off 7-45 p.m.'


ball Club, but if they've got bigger ideas for this season then they'll have to come out and show me what they are. “I t was never going to


be easy from the outset, when I sat down with the ex-chairman in the sum­ mer he said he would be quite happy to finish mid­ table and I'm quite confi­ dent that we will do. “It's just unfortunate at


this moment in time that results haven't gone the right way for us over the last few weeks - and if we win the next couple of games then all this vidll be forgotten.” “But if people at


Clitheroe want to take action against it so be it but I'm working as hard as anybody, ! spend a lot of


5'A.HEALTHY^number of Blues .fans fmade'"ithe"' trip to


Glasshoughton on Saturday and; ;I’m sure all of them were heartily i


?disappointed byia performancej i that could be described^at best as’: 'awful.'* I,


i; /,?Many aspects of-the game were ■poor,.the lack:of any direction ori5


.. ■


fi;the fields pf:play,'aperceived lack' lof_^^y tactical gamepl^‘*and jus^^^ Fthefmlure'pf many bf-the^^^^^ ito]j}'roiduce,the.kir^^^ J:inMce that we all_lai '-^i’Even chasing.tlie'‘'game .we'


run of defeats, Sculpher has to admit that there are


problems that need ironing out in the centre of the field as composure in the side has been on the wane. He said: “I think the


lads, for what ever reason, have lost their confidence over the last 10 days because earlier on in the season we were a t least causing problems for the opposition. “We do seem to be very


static in midfield and up front and we do seem at times that we don't want the ball, but again we've got to keep working a t it, no one's going to give us those points and we've got to s ta r t this Friday against Kendal Town. Looking to that FA Tro­


phy Preliminary show down with Kendal a t Shawbridge tomorrow, that could reap the could £1000 should they win.


Sculpher is optimistic despite last week's perfor­


mance against the same side. He said: “You look at


Kendal and see they put five past us but then went and conceded four a t the weekend a t Kidsgrove Athletic, so there are obvi-


. ously two sides to Kendal. ‘"They're a decent side


just like everyone one else in the UniBond league, with no disrespect to North West Counties sides, there are no easy games, no Glossops of this


league where you know you vidll win.” Team selection for Fri­


day looks healthy although Sculpher admits he is reluctant to make wholesale changes. “There is an odd player


to come in and perhaps a re-think but at times you can make too many changes and sometimes you've got to stick by what you've got. “Saturday I didn't make any changes


at


Glasshoughton as it was one of those where the ball was in the air all the time and it was a case of getting


a lucky break and we did­ n't get one.


“Whereas at Chorley I


made three changes a t once to freshen it up and get some fresh legs on the pitch.” Absentees from the side


tomorrow are Kris Richens, who is out with a groin strain for possibly another week, Lee Cryer still has a calf problem and Neil Reynolds is suspend­ ed for another two games. But Chris 'Whittingham


returns tomorrow and pos­ sibly the week after before his suspension comes into play. And new signing Gavin


Cooper from Colne gives the Clitheroe boss fresh options on the left hand side.


“Tuesday was a bap­


tism of fire for Gavin real­ ly,” said Sculpher. “He came straight into


the side at Chorley, he'll play again on Friday, train with the lads on Thursday and we'll soon get a better understanding. “He's a good player


who'll give us width and quality.


P I V P best to get something out of the' oveimight but we have'to decide


, .. game and a lack of creat^vitjr is '.onateamandstyleoLplaythaf' . making this difficult to achieve ■


- , rm - sb ^ ^ Sculpher won’t be* pressing the panic button just yet


K: Against a side that: could bbst .ibe ,'described ;asr average,’ we allowed them to dominate us and failed bo.provide any: attacking


- outlet, with our wingers,! vvho were . the key^to unlocking.a tough 'defence.' -


?:nevepsh6wed-any:urgency*andl, ididn*t''even'introduce any substii'^'J tutes to try to find a way back.'''' “5 ^iiATaictics;havebeen’ discussed to v


|deathronand offitheberraces no'i ^ doubt over recent,weeks and on ; “S a tu r^ 3C we,.again adopted our' safety first policy


^ :


jipissing chances, we simply didn’t create any and maybe itb tinie to


reconsider our gairieplan.‘ 7.; Strikers can’t be blamed for.


t.--If-iWe are difficult'tolbreak dovvn then Lhaveno cpmplaints,^^


-wg .won’tb e a t teams easily as we' did last year.,.. ; ;


However, yvhen wefall behind in games we’need to considerhow


:


'.';:«.s'7HeAas,moved'quicklyito''fill'«vSii;'«'-- one void for the team, with the


noo j 1, i but he will be fully aware that he Hopefully our first ever ven- , ' “' '


' *-^bI baye to,make: somebig deci- :- tare in theFA- Trophy will sp’arkS. sions over the. coming weeks and> - a return to form for the players


maybe, a good run here will disappointment


.-signing of Gavin Cooper from^ : thei-AOup.


^ C o l n e . . ! ^ ? t ] | | . t ! b ^ g l i i h ; P i a ^ n g ^ ^ ^ ^=5r*yGppperfmade;bis;debutyon''s;ida3d!|hi^^ ^ITuesdayvahd as a natural left ri’.'':ith|En|lMSf * vmger showed that he could pro- ^:dayiimaybb'|^^^


',‘7 Atunorley-we.wereagain.lack-"., ;..ing'anylcreative ideas and the-.-'J'^,®4ide but keep.the'faith and'


-fc l a c k i p L g o . a l s . d o e S j n o w ' S t a r t ' t o f o r t u n e : ibecome a'concer^^^^


--'oyer coming wwlfy:’ Welmven’tb'ecbme'abad te -/ 7 ~ i ANDY^ALCTON * ,, .


Louise Highton who flnished fifth in the Pentathlon at the under 19s world championships. (B300904/7)


Bulgarian 2 date sees Louise in top form


by Adrian Capstick


Clitheroe Royal Grammar School pupil finished fifth in the Under 19s age group. She undertook four


LOUISE HIGHTON took on .the world's best at the Under 19s Pentathlon Championships in Bulgaria recently. And the 16-year-old


overall, having won 31 of her 46 fights. However in the shoot,


which is not her favourite event, she finished in 30th place to go into the final event of the run in sixth place over all.


^ And due to the nature ^


disciplines over two days and recorded a personal best of 2:12.3 in the 200m swim to set a bench mark of second place. However, despite not


bettering this feat in her remaining three events, she accredited herself well.


in the fencing to go into the second day third


SPORTS DESK: Phone 01282 426161 Fax: 01282 439863 e-mail: eln.sport@eastlancsnews.co.uk f ruyoi io:>U9t Louise finished fourth


of the 3000m run being a handicap race, she set off ^ in sixth and managed to _ claw back a position to V finish in fifth with another personal best of 10.57. This is an excellent


achievement given that 0


Louise still has another T two years to achieve


I


medal success at this, ^ level as she was entered w/ as an underage competitor.


9770963365096 41 4


^ j ^


I


Tel: 01200 442188 Far. 01200 444535 E-mdl: sfxyt@roefleld.co.uk


Edlsfo’d Hoad, ontieroe, BB7 31A www.roefield.co.uk Call In toda/forafme toifofour faollfiBS with your sports team of Edward U e , Chris Bbden, Phil Simpson and Adrian Capstick


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