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Clitheroe's Jason Hart, in action for former club Padiham against Northwich Victoria


By Da n B lac k


danie[.b!ack@Jpress.co.uk @DanBlack84


Blues boss Simon Garner in­ sists that lie doesn't need any extraammunition going into the Boxing Day derby with Padiham.


Garnerwaspulledintoawar of words with Arbories chief Steve Wilkes recently, relat-


9 ing to transfer activity be­ tween the two cliibs. • But there’sno vitriol on


Garner’s part, just a desire to get one over on the team he’s yet to beat as a manager. Ahead of the clash on en­


emy soil, he said: “It should lead up to a good game on


^ B o x i n g D a y . ” “live played them twice as Clitheroe manager and _ they’ve beaten us twice.;


@ ' “What’s happened recent- ’ ' ... ly is irrelevant, we'rejust fo­ cussed on our football.


t T- them because of recent re­ sults.


~ v “I want to get one over on •


“It’salocalderbysothere’s


a lot at stake. “It’s going to tje a cracker and it’s one of those games


where their league position is irrelevant. \ V . “We’re rivals'and i t ’s


the holiday p^ribd'so there should be a good crowd and it should make a great occa­ sion.”


Clitheroe’s preparation


for the fixture couldn’t have gone any better, with the Blues battering Prescot Ca-


-• bles 6-0 on Saturday. Former Storks forwards,


Jay Hart (2) and Louis Mayers were both on the scoresheet, while James Walker, Richard Burns and Sefton Gonzales added to the rout, Padiham, meanwhile,


sunk deeper into trouble in the Evo-Stik First Division. North table as they lost 3-0 to Lancaster City.


... y, Wilkes’s side have accu- ■ mulatedjust nine points in 23 league outings. “I’m looking forward to


it because there’s no reason' why we can’t come out on top and keep climbing the table,”


•' said Garner. ‘ “Boxing Day will be the halfway point of the season


so we can assess our situation aflerthat. . “We>e definitely im-'


proved since the start of the season and I’m happy with the squad. . “As a club we’re really


■ looking forward-to the New Year.


“I want to win the Padi-


ham'game more than any- • thing.


. “I want to win every game


we play though. : • ■ - “I dbn’t need any extra


ammunition to beat them,. “All I’m bothered about is


getting three points. ~ “I’ve not beaten them yet


so I’m determined to get one over on them. • “It’s a game I expect us to '


come out on top in. • ■' . “JayandLouishaveplayed


for Padiham and they’ll want to show why they got a move toClitheroe. , ' “I brought.them in be­


cause I believed they would- improve the squad."


West B radford's world champion Samantha Murray hasbeen namedthe British Modern


PentathlonOlympicAthleteoftheYearforthe secondtime.


- .


- The 25-year-old eqjoyed a remarkable year, in which she was crowned.world champion in Warsaw. Poland in September. And she received her Athlete of the Year tro­


phy - provided by the British Olympic Associa- tion - at a Pentathlon GB dinner at Bath Cricket' Club last Thursday from coach Istvan Nemeth.r ; It comes on the back of similar recognition - in 2012 when she also won the award in a year


where she won her first World Cup medal, a: well as taking bronze at the World Champion ships in Rome, and then a silver medal at th<


London Olympics - Britain’s 65 th andlast meda oftheGames. Then Murray joined an elite number - with


:.ySteph Cook, Kate Allenby, Georgina Harlanc and Heather Fell - of British women to win s medal in the Olympic modern pentathlon. ’


- , Murray’s victory in Warsaw-whichincluded anew pentathlon world record as she won the 200m freestyle swim in 2min 03.84sec - made her the fourth British woman to win gold after Wendy Norman, Cook and Mhairi Spence.


Samantha Murray receives her award from coach Istvan Nemeth at Bath Cricket Club (s).


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