'!C 64 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, March 8th, 2007 ALL THE


LOCAL FOOTBALL REPORTS


-PAGE 63 fwith yoursportsiteam of Edwardlteei\CHris..Bb'dehfiPhil]Simps6n Goal machine’ on way back By Adrian Capstick


CLITHEROE goal machine Gary Jackson could be just a month away from ending his


.injury nightmare and picking up where he left off last season. The Blues striker was hit by a


cruciate knee injury 17 months ago at the height of his scoring abilities, but after a lengthy wait for an operation, he is now on the road to recovery, and co-manager Neil Reynolds couldn't be happier for his old team mate. He said: "Jacko is on his way


back and I'm hopeful he'll feature in the last two to three games of the season. It all depends how well he does in the next few weeks, but he deserves to reap the rewards from the labour and dedication he's putting in. "I know how hard it is to come


back from a cruciate knee injury, and there's no reason why he can't bounce back as good as he was before."


Gary Jackson is on Ihc road lo recovery


The team has missed Jackson's


goals, and only found a suitable replacement this season in James Dean, who was quickly snapped up by Conference club Northwich Victoria after netted the same number of goals, 13, in as many games as Jackson did before his injury. • The only difference being that


Jackson's strikes came in the space of eight weeks to Dean's suspen­ sion-hampered four months, and it he had not been hit by injury, who knows where he and Clitheroe would be now. Reynolds added: "A fit Gary


Jackson is what every team wants. He can't wait to return. He's been


down every Thursday running, doing a bit of ball work and play­ ing tive-a-side in his own time. I can't wait to see him pull on a blue shirt again" It's been a positive week all


round for the Clitheroe manage­ ment, as Saturday's 3-1 win at Ossett Albion confirmed what Reynolds has been thinking and saying for the last few weeks. The Blues boss said: "I didn't


want to say ‘I told you so’ to some people, but that performance has been coming for some time now. "We scored three chances but


still missed plenty, which was the only worry. The game was com­ pletely dominated by us, against a side that had the chance of mak­ ing the play-offs if they won all their games in hand. "What’s more we rested Craig


Sargeson with a hamstring injurj’ and John Osbourne with an achilles problem, and still did it, which is the good thing about hav­ ing a big squad." Saturday marks a return to


Shawbridge, the visit of Kidsgrove Athletic and the league's leading goalscorer Michael Lennon. The Blues shocked the Stafford­


shire club with a'3-1 away win on the first day of the season, so they will be out to ruffle a few feathers. "Kidsgrove have turned a corner


these last few games and their strikers Michael Lennon and Matt Rhead are a real handful," said Reynolds. "They had back-to-back fix­


tures last weekend that saw them beat Harrogate Railway 3-0 on Saturday, but lose 3-2 to Bridling­ ton on Sunday. They’ll be looking to make amends for that and get back on track." A trip to Warrington then


awaits on Tuesday, and Clitheroe will be hoping that game will be on as postponed fixtures, like that against Colwyn Bay on Tuesday, are beginning to rack up. Reynolds and Pete Smith have


a fully fit squad to choose from as striker Chris Ward is scheduled to return.


Hard work pays off for the Blues


Ossell Albion.............. 1 Clillieroe FC .............. 3 WEEKS .of work finally paid off for Clitheroe on Saturday as their determi­ nation and domination sabotaged Ossett Albion. The Blues' Yorkshire


hosts hardly had a look in as Pete Smith and Neil Reynolds' men were lining up at the end for an oppor­ tunity on goal, such was their creative flair. Past weeks have seen the


locals put in sterling per­ formances for no reward, but strikes from Ryan Fisher, Lennie Reid and Joel Byrom sealed a win that has been on the cards for some time. Ossett aren't relegation stragglers, but you would­


n't have thought that they were worthy of 10th in the league, 10 places ahead of Clitheroe on this run out. Admittedly they had


been forced to make five changes due to suspen­ sions, but the Blues played what was put in front of them off the park. Fisher struck Clitheroe's


17th-minute opener, after sustained pressure led to the midfielder following up a loose ball from eight yards to score. Ossett's leading striker


Danny Toronezak saw his weak header go wide of the mark - the home side's only effort of the half - before Reid produced the goal of the game. The left winger's laid


back approach hadn't ful­ filled any of the Blues’ moves into the box, until Jason Jones picked out a pass for the on-loan Fleet- wood player to coolly lift the ball from the edge of the area over the keeper and in off the far upright. Byrom and Fisher were


again at their best in mid- field, while, in the absense of Craig Sargeson on the right. Smith caused as much panic in the Ossett defence as a man half his age. Anthony Daniels was


shy of having a pop at goal either, as the right back saw his speculative 40-yard lob drop just over the bar, with Ossett keeper Neil Bennett oft his line.


The second half saw


Ossett make wholesale changes, with two substi­ tutions on from the start, but it made little differ­ ence, as first a fantastic take down by Fisher from a right wing cross saw the midfielder force a full- stretch save. Byrom then sent Will


Exton through on goal, shrugging off the defence as he charged his way through, only to see his shot shuffle wide of the mark. And when Smith made


way for David Dempsey, the winger could easily have had a hat-trick as he was constantly in the right place at the right time, only the goal eluded him. '


Even Anderson enjoyed


a lung-bursting box to box charge, only to see his shot snuffed out at the last. Byrom netted a third


goal between these missed efforts, and new striker Sam Heap, on for Exton, got in on the action when he laid off another effort that Dempsey narrowly side-footed the wrong side of the post. Clitheroe couldn't quite


hold out tor the clean sheet, though, as with Ossett's only effort of the half, the ball ran free to Ryan White, who tired his injury time effort past


'James Mann with the last kick of the game. ADRIAN CAPSTICK


Wagon leave it late to seal cup tie


WFC Clilhewe..............5 Carlelon........ .................■/. TWO goals in the final 10 minutes of this thriller saw WFC Clitheroe take this game to extra-time - and then add another to win a place in the cup semi-final. Carleton took the lead on


the half-hour as the home side looked far from as good as they have been in previ­ ous weeks. Geoff Young was on tar­


get for the second week run­ ning though, as he nodded home an equaliser from a long Oakley throw. But Carleton took the


lead again just before the break, and could have had more but for last-ditch defending from Hughes and good goalkeeping from Gaskell. As the half-time whistle


went, a lot of the home side's heads were down as the players knew they were


performing below par. Sleeves were rolled up for the second half, and some better football was played. Waggon's second came


through Stoddart as he latched on to a Young through ball to fire coolly into the corner. Waggon should have


looked to push on, but as the pitch cut up severely as the heavy rain fell, the away side bombarded WFC with high long balls into the box


which weren't dealt with, and Carleton went 4-2 up. WFC had to change


things, and they pushed players forward and played three at the back to try and get something from the game. With the visitors well


and truly on the back foot, WFC pulled one back, and then got the equaliser with only minutes to go, again through the in-form Young. WFC took the lead for


the first time in the game midway through the first half of extra-time. The second halt of extra


time was a different affair, as the away team had to really push forward to try arid take the game to penal­ ties, but this was not to be as grit and determination led to scenes of celebration at the final whistle. WFC return to action on


Saturday with a league cup fixture against Keighley.


‘As good as it gets’ for


Valley golfers By Edward Lee


"ABOUT as good as it gets" -


those were some of


the words used by Roger Altham at the gala dinner in accepting the winning- team prize in the recent PGA Northern Region Pro-Am in Portugal. Played over four rounds


on three different courses, the team returned a remark­ able score of 50 under par to capture first prize. With a format of two


scores to count from four on each hole, Whalley golfers Altham, Mike Conroy and Danny Liles, accompanied by professional David Shacklady from Mossack Hall, never looked back after scoring 33 under par for the first two rounds. Two further solid rounds


gave them victory, following their second place in the same event last year. Everyone played their


part, but perhaps no-one more than Conroy who holed from 90 feet on the 16th hole in the final round for a birdie two, and then sunk a 70 foot putt on the next hole for yet another birdie. Shacklady completed a


fantastic double by also winning the individual pro­ fessional's prize with a 20 under score of 270. On the home front, there


was some unbelievable scor­ ing in Saturday's Winter Series Competition. Karl Shipston (80-18-62)


took first place on the card from Bob Caladine (78-16- 62) - more of him later - fol­ lowed in third place by Roy Ellis (73-10-63). Fifteen-year-old Craig


Gornall took the best gross prize with a one-under par


71- In the Professional's Win­


ter Series league table, with one more event to play, it is now a three-way race for the title between Trevor Thorn- ber, Derek Shirtcliffe and Roy Ellis. The Seniors are starting


to get their muscles into shape for the coming season - none more so than old stagers Peter Benson, the aforementioned Caladine, and the relatively youthful Ian Hartley. ■


They scored 73 points in


a three-man team competi­ tion and took first place from Ray Bradley, Brian Cooke and Bill Banks (72 ). Owen Birtwistle, Geoff Lowe and Jim Spencer were third with 71 points. The Winter League is


now also drawing to a close, with the winners of the three leagues playing a "round robin" during March to determine the overall winners. Whalley defeated Leigh


Golf Club 7-0 in the prelim­ inary round of the Superlux Windows Trophy. Lady captain Irene


Hinks, Marie Finney, Carol Ashley and Vanessa Cameron carded 38-1.2-33.S to win the nine-hole Texas scramble at Clitheroe GC. B Visit our up-to-date golf website


at


www.clitheroetoday.co.uk B Send your golf news to


edward.lee(geastlanc- snews.co.uk


Trio claim medals


in indoor games


RIBBLE Valley Athletics Club picked up three medals at the English Indoor Championships in Birmingham. Nathan Riding, running


in the Under 20s’ 1,500m, took home a superb silver, which was matched by Leigh Lennon, who also took second in the Under 17s’ 800m. Robbie Schofield, also competing in the Under 17.s’ 800m, ran a personal best of one minute, 58.88 seconds to pick up a bronze medal. Ashleigh Williams, in her


first year at Under 20s’ level, came a strong fifth and ran a personal best of two minutes, 18.72 seconds.


9770963365225 9 770963 3 6 5 2 2 5 10 I I


I I


I — k I


www.clitheroetoday.co.uk


Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertisirtg), Burnley 422331 (Classified)


MOHIER’S DAY ^ M a rc h 1 8th ^


DON'T BE RED CARDED BE ON THE BALL AND


GIVE US A CALL Place your greeting


- ^ C a l l 01282 426161 e x t 410 o rX ip ' emaiL-


janet.keegan@eastlancsnews.co.uk


■


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33