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Blues miss chance crucial win


by Adrian Capstick


PAUL B5Ton's frustration reached new levels on Sat­ urday as the Clitheroe boss witnessed his side “throw away” what should have been a guaranteed three points. Goals have been an issue


all season for the Blues yet there were numerous opportunities to seal victo- , ry against Shepshed


' ^


’* ^ 3mamo, so many in fact that it was painful for him to watch as the Blues squandered the lead and settled for a 1-1 draw. And the fact that the


Byron is already starting to repeat himself, after only a month and a half in the position, is driving is driving the manager to despair. “Two points weren't lost


they were thrown away,” said the Blues boss. “We can't go on and on about what the problem is because we know what it is as I keep on repeating it to the lads. “The game should have


been dead and buried. No disrespect to Shepshed, but they should have been out of the game by half­ time and it should have been party time in the sec­ ond half. “It's the reason why we


are in the position we are in the league, simple as that. We've created plenty, ; but we can't punish teams


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- Spalding United - vCiitheroe


Saturday, January 5th Kick-off 3 p.m.


and when we do get in front we can't kill them off because we can't take sim­ ple chances. “Some of the opportuni­


ties were absolutely crimi­ nal, the four chances before we scored in the first half the keeper hasn't even been worked.” He added: “You look at


it and see that we've scored one goal in three home games now and cre­ ated between 12 and 15 clear cut-chances - it's murder. “You can work on finish­


ing as much as you like but at the end of the day you've got to start asking yourself your either a fin­ isher or your not and that's the question we've got to start asking now.” He did however have


praise for goal scorer Gary Jackson although the striker's second half efforts had him holding his head in his hands. “Gary had a decent


game, his general work rate was superb as he was back on the button like he was against Kendal. He was a constant thorn in


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Young makes his Mark in Green’s cup win


tKhgKiM m CHRIS NESTOR


their side which is what we want.” “The goal he scored


wasn't even a chance, if he'd shot over I would have applauded the effort and got on with it but he smashed a great strike into the roof of the net. “But the simple chances


he missed, his one-on-ones are something else, yes he should have had another penalty but he should have finished anyway, only it's gone wide, again!” The other penalty call in


the first half also rankled with Byron when Paul Stansfield was caught at waist level in the area. “It wasn't just a stone


wall penalty it was a bad tackle, Paul's got the stud marks to prove it and their player didn't even get a booking, I couldn't believe it.”


Byron is hopeful that


Lee Cryer should be back in the squad for this Satur­ day's 158-mile trip to face Spalcling United in South Lincolnshire, the Blues longest away trip of the season. Unfortunately fel­ low hamstring-plagued player Craig Sargeson won't be joining him. Byron said: “Last Sat­


urday would have been Craig's home debut and we would have been able to have a better look at him. As it stands its not looking as though he's going to be right until our next home


game (against Ossett Albion on February 12th) and by then his loan deal is up.


“I haven't spoken to


Witton Albion boss Gary Finley yet, but we took him on with the view to extending the loan, so it's not dead in the water. “Ultimately Craig


wants to stay, he's enjoyed it with the lads, he's mucked in and he doesn't want to go back, but obvi­ ously he's not really our player and still belongs to Witton.” On the flip side, Lenny


Reid, who joined the club late last week, looks promising for Byron but the Clitheroe chief admits the former Fleetwood and Bamber Bridge wing man has more to offer. “Lenny did well, he's not


match fit as he hasn't been playing football. We said we just wanted an hour out of him, first half par­ ticularly he did well and got more crosses in down the left side than we've seen in the past month. “He didn't set the place


alight but he did the sim­ ple things right, he got hold of it, he brought it down, he didn't give it away cheaply and he got a couple of crosses in. He also asked a few questions of the full back which we've not done. “He's lost his sharpness but he knows that, but


we're doing plenty of leg work this week in training so he'll soon be back to his best.” Defensively the Blues


have been strong but after recent games Byron con­ cedes that, with Chris Nestor missing from the heart of defence, concen­ tration has lapsed. “We've conceded three


simple goals in two games. I'm saying the same things to the same players, it's like right - what do we do? I might have a look at Chris Nestor on Saturday he's had long enough sat on the bench. “But I'm still feeling my


way in, trying to find out what players are like. I'm not just saying that mak­ ing excuses, it's a fact.” One player Byron won't


be able to run the rule over though is Squires Gate left back Chris Smith who did an about turn last week when the North West Counties League First Division side offered him more money and new con­ tract to stay until the end of the season. But the Blues boss


believes that for the time being the experience of Stuart Todhunter will see him through at left back as his vocal motivation and positional awareness is just what Byron wants while he searches for a left­ footed player to pair with Reid.


Hurst G r e e n .................6 Goodshaw United . . . .1 HURST GREEN, who currently head the East Lancashire League First Division table, reinforced their dominance with a comprehensive victory over nearest rivals Good­ shaw United in the Presi­ dent's Cup on Saturday. And with the visitors


looking for revenge for their only defeat of the season by the Green, local prolific marksman Mark Young, who has scored 22 goals in the last six match­ es, was again to the fore scoring twice and hitting the bar. His goal-scoring feats


have even brought him to the attention of Great Harwood Town. The night before this


game he featured in the 2- 1 defeat at the hands of Bacup Borough playing


against ex-Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United player David May. Hurst Green's victory


was far from a one-man show, though, and was attained by a superb col­ lective performance. The first half had only


one goal scored, a well constructed move culmi­ nating in a fantastic shot into the corner of the net, by Craig Dewhurst. The Green missed a host


of others but soon extend­ ed their lead after the break with further goals from Mark Young (2), the industrious Danny Walker and Alan Coar. And despite Goodshaw ^


scoring direct with a well- crafted free kick, there was still time for substitute Alex Young to fire home from the edge of the box after a mazy run from Coar.


Long Lee Juniors . . . .2 Waddinglon Reserves .6 UNBEATEN in 12 previ­ ous games league leaders Long Lee were given a real beating on their own soil by a determined Wadding- ton side who took another huge step towards promo­ tion. The home side got off to


the perfect start after a flowing move enabled their striker to fire home from just inside the box, but Waddington were soon level after Mark Harrison lobbed the keeper and then Paul Ainger scored the second with a strike that the keeper could only watch sail in to the top corner.


Trio hit the target in five-star Readstone win


READSTONE United Under 10s enjoyed the best result at the club this week as they pro­ duced a convincing 5-0 victory over Brierfield Celtic. a brace apiece for Harry Price


and Lewis Turner was topped off with a fifth from Max Hum- berstone. Edward Mills was named man-of-the-match. The only other victory this week was seen in the Under 11


t-rf-Yellows' 1-0 success over Bamoldswick Town Blues.


This is only their second vic­


tory of the season thanks to a Nathan Holland. Raees Bleas- dale was named man-of-the- match although all the boys deserve praise for their efforts. Meanwhile the other Under


11s side in the Accrington league drew 1-1 with Rishton United Red with Adam Haslam netting the goal and Tom Neville named man-of-the- match. The previous week the same


team had a convincing 2-0 victo­ ry over Accrington Stanley Juniors courtesy of two strikes from star man Joe Martin. A point was also savoimed this


week by the Under 12 girls as they preserved their unbeaten run with a thrilling 2-2 draw with Fleetwood. The team were trailing 2-0


mid-way through the second half but fought back through an own goal and a Rosie Robinson strike. Alisha Crver was named


player-of-the-match. However, disappointment was


seen in Readstone United Under 14s 4-2 defeat at the hands of local rivals Clitheroe Wolves. After conceding two early


goals the team recovered to score twice courtesy of Lee Smith and man-of-the-match Johnnie Kennedy. Unfortunate­ ly Wolves scored twice more in the last 15 minutes. Further defeat was measured in the Under 8s and the Under


13s in their games. The former were beaten 2-1 by Barrowford Celtic despite man-of-the- match Adam Heys scoring the only goal of the game. And the Under 13s were on


the wrong end of a 4-0 defeat dished out by Foulridge Minors. Bounding off the weekend the


Under 18s fell to a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Knuzden Juniors. Goals came from Scott Stan- worth and James Warburton.


Leaders hit for six Sam Dean then got in


on the act scoring two before the break to give Waddington a 4-1 lead in a game which was turning out to be more comfort­ able than expected. In the second half Long


Lee came at the locals after what we can only assume was an ear bashing from their manager. The Yorkshire side got a


goal back and were now looking dangerous but again stubborn defending throughout the whole Waddington side made it difficult for them to get := any more goals and when a defender put the ball into his own net the three ^ points were on their way ^ to Lancashire.


gt With only minu tes"


remaining Dean got his third and Waddington's sixth. He also received the man-of-the-match award but every player in tanger­ ine was worth 10 out of 10 . after this display, Waddington entertain Ingleton on Saturday with players asked to meet at 1 • - p.m. at Roefield.


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