r-f/ z^*^ 78 I- \ CUTHEROEADVERnSER&TIMES SPORTRUGBY ROUND-UP - on Pli^h^^osQive their all, butvisitorsare good value for theirvictory


filjtherde Colneand Nelson RUFC...:.„44


It was derby day at Littlemoor:


: on Saturday as old rivals / Colne and Nelson came over the hill to face the maroon and golds of Clitheroe. ; ' -■ Much to the home team’s chagrin, the All Blacks left again with the spoils, but played a full part in an excit­ ing open game of rugby, and at the final shakedown were goodvaluefortheirwin. . .. The selectors were forced


■ /<


into a few changes from the previous week’s line up. - Scrum half Dan Smith re-


_ turned after a well-deserved extended holiday. In the pack, there was a re­


shuffle in the front row. Will Jones moved to hooker and


Kieran Keo'ugh made his first start at prop for the first 3CV. Heavy overnight rain had


6b- -.cameround.,


got the Clitheroe ground staff worried about the game go­ ing ahead, but a fresh drying wind, left, apart from a few soggy patches, a fairly decent surface by the time kick-off • .


• •. It became a game of two halves, the first being fairly even, with both sides seemly taking it in turns at scoring. The scoreboard was ticldng


over at a rate of knots as both teams showed willingness to run the ball at every occasion. Full back Greg Birch scored


Clitheroe’s first try. A well- worked effort"which came after some strong approach


■ m- 1ST


Ribble ViaUeyclubs prepare for new season


www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk Thursday,JanuaryiG,2014 Tiursday,January16,2014 www.clitheroeadvertlser.CQ.ul< CUTHEROEADVEirnSER&nMES SPORT GLITHEROE UNDONE AT HOME


polin is remembered, but match is forgettable


i . ■ ■ ■ • -i ■ Clitheroe slip up at Shawbridge against side without a win in three months


I Clitheroe....... ................. 0 |OssettAlbiqn..:...........i....... 2


I The minute’s silence to mark I the death of Clitherqe stal-


I the pitch. .V', - ■ - With Lloyd Dean having


JanakaGunarantne


The new year means the new Houldsworth Solici­ tors Ribblesdale League , season is on the horizon.


And most of the Ribble Valley clubs have now un­ veiled their professionals for the 2014 campaign. Champions Clitheroe


will look to defend their ti­ tle with Sri Lankan Janaka


SamThomberhadanexcellentgameinthebackrowfbrClitheroeagainstColneandNelsonfs).


work from the pack and some excellent ball retention, leav­


ing the wiry red-head to slice through a gap to dot down for his third of the season. The same man was on tar­


get with the conversion, and a penalty a short time later. ■ Colne were more than


equal to the task, and with their speedy outside backs causing the home defence a headache on more thaii the one occasion, it was no sur­ prise when theyjust managed


to keep one step ahead on the score sheet. .


: Clitheroe were over the


terval, after a prolonged siege of the Colne line, a loose ball was hacked through by Stu­ art Railton. After it had pin- balled off a few legs, he was astute enough to dive through to claim the try. Not the pret­ tiest ever - but they all count. The second hafr belonged


, to the visitors, despite a cou­ ple of Birch penalties.


• Clitheroe were slightly guilty o f playing a little too wide at times, and found


at exploiting these opportuni­ ties and rattled in a few more


over too often for comfort. Colneprovedtobemasters


scores to piitthemoutofreach at the final whistle.


Special mention must go


to Keough, who stood up well at scrum time, and could de­ velop into a useful front rower with continued application.


The two wings Wayne


Latham and Lewis Hardman, both fairly new to the oval ball


game, wei c far from overawed andbothsawplentyofaction. Sam Thornber had an ex­


cellent game in the back row. There are a few rough edg­


es to his game but he improves wiith every outing and he was


a well-deserved man of the match. This Saturday, Clitheroe


are at Littlemoor again, wel­ coming Bury RFC (2-15 p.m.).


. But second string maintain unbeaten run with convincing win at Ormskirk


0rmskirk4ths....................7 Clitheroe 2nds....:..„...„......62


Clitheroe were made'to work ‘ |, It ' r


.'.-fortheirwinastheymadethe \ trip down to west Lancashire. - " Any thought that the visi-


; j - torshadthatitwasgoingtobe alltheirownwaydisappeared


. rr-', < quickly from the kick-off as ^


Clithe- roe, and the visitors’ lethargy / _ i played into the hosts’ hands, t


ofthe opening exchanges, but the visitors opened their ac­ count with a try by the excel­


' Ormskirk had Jhe better


lent Bleasdale in the corner, with Morris unable to convert. - A few minutes later Mor­


ris added apenalty to lead 8-o. Following a good break by


Ormskirk and an infringe­ ment at the resulting lineout by Clitheroe, a quick tap pen­ alty was taken by the home fly


half, who took a well-deserved try that he converted. . These were worrying mo­


ments before Clitheroe woke up and scored under the posts through the returning Hough. Another score before


half-time through man ofthe ^ match Craig Procter and Clit­ heroe led 22-7 at the break. Clitheroe finally got into


gear after the break and the forwards’dominance showed,-


with Cowgill impressive in the lineout, and a good plat­ form given by the front row of


Smith, JacksonandThornber. The back line was seeing


plenty of ball and further tries


were scored by both Procters and Cummings, who had a great game at outside centre. Doherty combined well


withSturgessatthebaseofthe scrum and both scored well-


deserved tries. Ormskirk were unlucky


not to add to their score but were cruelly denied by Dow- son who had a lo-minute break in the bin for foul play, before completing the scor­


ing, tripping over the line from a yard.


Manofthematchperform-


ance wasCraig Procter. ClitheroetraveltoChorley


urda in the Raging Bull Plate on Sat­ y.


Gunarantne as their paid man. The 32-year-old all- rounder is a right-hand batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler, with over 100 first-class appearanc­ es.' ' ■ •■■ ■ Read, meanwhile, have


snapped up South African Brandon Scullard. The 22-year-old is a


right-hand bat and right- arm fast-medium bowler, playingforKwaZulu-Natal. Salesbury have re­


tained the services of Sri Lankan Susantlia Pra- deep, who helped lead the club to their first senior silverware last season, the Twenty20 Cup, while Rib­ blesdale Wanderers - who completed a Ribble Valley sweep of the mqjor hon­ ours with the Ramsbot- tom Cup, will welcomeBen Dougall back to the club. Whalleyhaveyettoan- .


■ nounce their professional. For the forthcoming


season the Senior League will be divided into two di­ visions, with promotion and relegation. Clitheroe, Barnolds-


,wick,,Settle,Read,Os- waldtwistle Immanuel, Baxenden, Ribblesdale Wanderers, Whalley, Great Harwood make up Division A, with Brooksbottom, Edenfield, Salesbury, Ear- by, Buxton, Cherry Tree and Padiham in Division B.


not lightened by the action on


I wart Colin Wilson was im­ peccably observed, but the I sombre mood of the day was


movedtoEvo-stikPremier Di­ vision bottom club Droylsden the previous day, and Sean Miller recalled by Chester, Simon Garner had to field a' brand newfix>nt three/' Clitheroe-based Chris Bai­


ley featured on the left wing, while FC United loan strikers, Jean Biansumba and Tunde Owolabi, spearheaded the formation.. In an awful game of foot­


ball for the healthy Shaw­ bridge crowd, chances were atapremium. Bailey had a tame shot on


seven minutes, before both Owolabi and the Albion keep­ er pulled out of contesting a bouncing ball, when, with more courage, he would have beenfree.' On 21 minutes. Will James


lost his footing, and a desper­ ate tackle on the edge of the box conceded a fi:«e kick in a central position. ■ Ryan Harrison’s kick .


skimmed down the left hand side ofthe wall, and although Ben Proctor managed to par­ ry it, it fell to Kurtis Noble,' who put the ball in the net. Still Clitheroe did not ;


TundeOwolabichallengesthekeeper,and,inset,theplayersholdaminute'ssilenceforfamiersecretaryColinWilson


fire, and after half an hour, defender Adam Freeland limped off. Shortly after, Proctor made a point blank save firom Noble. At the break, Scott Byrom


and giant striker Jake Shaw- cross came on, and Shaw-


cross had the best Clitheroe chance of the game when he had a firm header saved. More misery was heaped


on the home side when an­ other slip, by substitute Ben Cartwright, let in Ben Grech- Brooksbank to finish well.


On 69 minutes, Albion’s


Caldon Henson was dis­ missed for an off the ball in­ cident, but Clitheroe could


■ not make the extra man tell. This was a game to forget.


The same cannot be said for Colin Wilson andhis4oyears


Pictures:AndrewSmith


of service to the club. Clitheroe: Proctor, Wedge (c). Walker, James, Freeland, Gamer, Dent, Wilkins, Biansumba, Ow­ olabi, Bailey.Subs:Shawcross, By­ rom, Lee, Johnstone, Cartwright - •AtributetoColinWilson is on page 4.


Green ease through to next round


Ambleside....... ............ .1 Hurst Green.......■........ .A


Hurst Green progressed into the next round of the Presi­ dent’s Cup after a hard-fought game, on a difficult pitch at Ambleside. - • - : . Hurst Green made the trip


to Cumbria, and the pictur­ esque Ambleside, and credit to the hosts for managing to get the game on, with most of the West Lancashire League falling victim to the weather. Green had the better of the opening minutes, with


Oliver. Bolton, recently re­ called to the first team, pos­ ing threats down the left, and Ash Brierley causing similar issues down the right. . Bolton’s assist led to the


first goal, when his pile-driver of a fe e kick was only parried by the keeper to the feet of Chris Cookson to poke home


from close range. Half chances fell to Bar­


tlett, with header from a cor­ ner just off target, and a long range effort from Chris Scott. Playing conditions were


not conducive, to Hurst Green’s normal passing game. On the verge of half-time,


Bolton was adjudged to have his shirt" pulled intheboxand Bartlett stepped up to slot the penalty home. The hosts came out fight­


ing in the second half and Green were forced onto the backfoot. Ambleside mounted a


wave of attacks, ending with a fine header from their cen­ tre half from a corner. This seem to spark the


Green into life, and with good linkup play from Danny Walker and Oliver McClean,


• the ball fell to Chris Byrne, who coolly slotted in from 15 yards out. This more or less killed off


- the game, but there was time for Danny Walker to buy an­ other penalty, which stand-in captain Bartlett slotted home onceagain. ^ Aspecialmentlongoesout


to young goalkeeper Michael Pilkington who was drafted into the side at the 11th hour,


and produced a wonder save at 2-1. The back three of Enefer,


Bartlett'and Aspinwall all stood firm in the latter stages of the game, neutralising any attacking ambitions of the home side. Other positive notes, in- ■


elude the introduction of youth again from the bench, in theform ofDanny Mort and James Barnes. Greens reward for knock­


ing out Ambleside is a home tie to Dalton next month.


Courses on offer at • Roefield ^ Leisure


This newyear at Roefield Leisure; there is an exciting junior course programme


. forchildrenandaduitswho wanttolearnanewsport, improvetheirfitnessand meetnewfriends.


^ *


The centre have a newjunior indoor bowling course for .je ages eight upwards, which teaches all the basic skills and techniques of bowls. There is also dodgeball


for ages seven and over, which is great for energetic kids and fmproves both fit­ ness and core skills as well as Q beinggoodfun. . And you can also try the


popular beginner indoor ar­ chery and climbing courses - for juniors and sdults, which teach those basic skills, as ^ well as being fun, fulfilling, and a little different - from age eight upwards. Other courses available-


are street dance for ages 11 and over, teaching'all-the • latest street moves, football coaching sessions for ages * four to eight year's, and bas­ ketball for both beginners and the more advanced play­ ers.


The new year climbing courses begin on Monday .


.for 10 weeks. - Climbing courses began


on Tuesday, and tomorrow, for five weeks. The centre have a varied : _


programme on offer and are • no w taking enrolments at re­ ception.


- , . Call 01200 442188 or pop


into reception where staff will assist you with your booking.


'^r/


Dog hope to see action • against Bay Horse All matches in the Harry De-


"


whurst Memorial League on x Sunday were postponed due tounfitpitches.


^


ThisSunday,WhaUeysideDog Inn are due to host Bay Horse 9 at Wilson’s, with the other fixtures Church Town v Bag­ gy’s Wine Bar (Foxhill); Bees KneesvGlobeBullough(King^ . George’s).


. Venues may be changed. 79


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