Clitheroe Grind Out the 'W'

This eagerly awaited local derby maybe didn’t produce much free flowing rugby, but lacked nothing in tension combined with blood and guts defence from both teams.
The incessant rain that began about an hour before kick off put paid to any hope of a Barbarian style game. In fact these games tend to be close-ish affairs.

Clitheroe were without influential players Rick Slinger & Will Tattersall due to injury but were pleased to welcome back Captain James Dickinson [kindly sponsored by LANX] after celebrating the birth of his new baby.

Right from the kick of the home side seemed to have an advantage at scrum time though the line outs were more of a lottery for both sets of forwards.
Playing with the elements at their backs Clitheroe were making good inroads into Burnley territory and soon were rewarded with a penalty. A kick to the corner and the resulting line out failed to achieve much so when another similar opportunity arose the more pragmatic shot at the sticks was called for.
Result - Clitheroe 3-0 up by way of a Nathon Burns’ boot. [pictured]

Most of the play revolved around the central area of the pitch with neither side managing to string phases together in the wet conditions. Many, many scrums ensued; and though the Maroons seemed to have the upper hand, they never seemed to be able to take any clear advantage of it.

After a period of trench warfare on halfway, Clitheroe inched forward and after a ruck infringement another penalty was offered up. Scrum half Burns was on target for his second to double the Clitheroe score.
That was it to half time. The crowd dispersed to the Clubhouse to dry off their outsides and lubricate their insides.
There was an uneasy feeling that Clitheroe had not done enough with the conditions in their favour and in the slippery conditions, against the wind, small mistakes could be quite costly.
Burnley came out of the traps with a good old head of steam up at the start of the second period and soon had established base camp in Clitheroe 22 at the Clubhouse end. A long series of close quarter battering ram charges were repelled time and time again but eventually the dam was breached and the visitors scored. Crucially the Burnley kicker had left his kicking boots at home and scuffed the conversion attempt wide. [6-5].

Clitheroe began to reassert themselves and managed to spend a majority of the remainder of the game in opposition territory. Some excellent runs from the likes of front rowers Josh Burns and Tom Walton [kindly sponsored by Winterbotham Darby] set the tone and laid some foundations.
Shortly afterwards replacement hooker Peter Wombat Mitchell, showing a surprising turn of speed for one so large, bundled his way over the line for what looked like a try but alas the referee, unsighted, was unable to award the points.
As the clock wound down the tension was cranked up to fever pitch when the visitors in a final push made a break out and threatened to spoil the party. A very long three minutes, which seemed to last 10, needed some serious cool heads to keep the visitors at bay.
Great relief at the final whistle for the home players & supporters, and credit to Burnley who refused to lie down.
Character building , I think they call these sort of days. Lets see if they can build again in two weeks for the second stanza of local derbies, with Colne & Nelson the visitors. Bring it on.