Clitheroe F.C. - Shawbridge

Firstly, can I apologise about the lack of photos, my camera decided to delete them. CLEVER!The quite town of Clitheroe is home to one of the Evo-Stick league’s last season surprise package of the season, Clitheroe F.C.

Normally, Clitheroe’s season is a boring mid-table one but since appointing Paul Moores at the start of the season their fortunes have been turned around and at the time of this match being played they were looking down on everyone else in the division, bar Skemersdale United and Ramsbottom United.

The day started early for me, my game for Moss Bank was scheduled for a 9:30 kick off, but with it pouring down with rain the night previous the game, inevitably, was called off. Having woken up at 7:30 to be at the game on time I was pretty incensed when I received the text informing me the game was off.

However, it gave me more time to look ahead of what had the potential to be a great day out watching football and ticking off another non-league ground on my list. Clitheroe Football Club are your typical non-league football club, they are family orientated, forward thinking and have that little spark that makes non-league football special, I bet that sounds cheesy!

The reason I was going to this game was simple, I have never been to Shawbridge before and, at the time Clitheroe and Cammel Laird were both looking for possible promotion. So it was a promotion six pointer!

I was joined by my mate Tom who doesn’t live far from my house so all he had to do was be at my house for 1:00pm where we went on to walk to Bromley Cross train station and catch the one train we needed to get to Clitheroe.

It cost my £3.80 for a return ticket, there weren’t a lot of people on the train, the sun was shining and we were traveling through the undisturbed countryside of Lancashire, what more could you ask for?

We arrived in Clitheroe at about 14:20pm and the ground is only a short 5-10 minute stroll from the train station so we had no need to rush.

I recommend doing a Google route planner thing (which is what I did) as the historic streets of Clitheroe can be quite hard to get your head round, there you go, a Half Time Whistle top tip for you all!

I was looking forward to watching Clitheroe vs Cammel Laird because it would of been the first time I have ever seen these two teams play and I have heard good things about both teams, and of course, as I said before I will be adding Shawbridge to my list of non-league clubs that I have been to.

We arrived at Shawbridge with half an hour to go before kick-off. I and Tom squeezed through the cramped turnstiles for £2 each, not expensive at all. I picked up a well presented programme for the prise of £1.50.

The programme wasn’t the best I have seen on my non-league travels but it certainly is not the worst.

Here we go, here is my attempt to describe and name the stands at Shawbridge.

As you go through the Turnstile you are directly behind the goal, you are standing in the Clubhouse side, half is sheltered standing and the other half is the club house. They have come up with a clever idea at Clitheroe. As this area is behind the goal they have put netting up to prevent you getting smacked in the face by a dodgy shot from a typical non-league striker, THANKS CLITHEROE!

To the left you will find the only area of the ground with seating, I am going to call it The Main Stand, for obvious reasons. This was about 4 or 5 rows deep with wooden seats, it was home to the Clitheroe and Visitors reserved seating and was also home to the Media facilities. On the same side of the side of the Stand was the changing rooms, refreshments area and dugouts, etc.

In front of you is a simple covered terrace that covers ¼ of the pitch directly behind the goal, I am calling it the, erm, the … Well, I can’t think of a name, SORRY!

And, to the right is The Shed End, here you will find the diehard Clitheroe fans. It is a Terrace that covers ¾ of the pitch that is about 3 rows deep. It is covered so it provides good shelter when it is raining.

With only five minutes till kick off we decided to check out the refreshments area. At Clitheroe, they had a wide variety of pies, chocolates and hot drinks. I had some lunch before I came out so I wasn’t really that hungry, Tom bought a sausage roll and I bought a Mars Bar for 60p. We then took out seats in the second row of the main stand and the game began….

The game started of brightly for Clitheroe, there were two crosses early in the game from Daley Woods and they had the visitors clueless as to what is going on and Laird were lucky as the volley from Clitheroe’s Danny Mahoney fizzing past the post.

Clitheroe deservedly took the lead shortly afterwards, Simon Nangle was fouled in the middle of Laird’s half of the pitch and the referee played advantage, which turned out to be a super decision, with Nangle finishing with a slick finish and Clitheroe were 1-0 up.

The next goal came 10 minutes later when a large amount of Clitheroe possession saw Chris Smalley release Dean Canning down the right and Canning’s first touch was a flick to Smalley whom the crossed to Daley Woods in the box which then saw the striker steadied himself then fire the ball into the back off the net. 2-0

Clitheroe were in control, Laird very rarely touched the ball, but Laird scored just before half time. Clitheroe sat back, they were too casual in play and a cross from Laird was handled by Clitheroe defender Jack Higgins, penalty. Scored. Jamie Henders.

HALF TIME

At half time me and Tom ventured into the clubhouse witch is known as Lordy’s Bar, if I remember, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Second half me and Tom swapped sides and joined the diehard Clitheroe fans in The Shed End.

The second half didn’t live up to the quality of the first, Clitheroe, understandably sat back, trying to keep the three points safe whereas Laird were desperate to keep their playoffs dream alive, they attacked and attacked but couldn’t find a way through the strong Clitheroe defence, they very rarely got a shot on target.

FULL TIME

We had no rush to get back to the train station so it was just a case of strolling through the quite town of Clitheroe and really take a chance to think about the game we had just watched.

Clitheroe, in reflection, played some really good football. The manager Paul Moore has clearly brought the team together and they seemed like serious contenders for promotion. Cammel Laird on the other hand found it hard to play at Shawbridge; the pitch isn’t the best there. If you go, you may notice a well *cough* slight slope.

With the pre-season fixtures beginning in the next week the Evo-Stick First Division North has evidently finished. Clitheroe finished in a disappointing 8^th position, Laird managed to book themselves a play-off place. Unfortunately for them, they lost in the final against Trafford. However, Laird and Clitheroe have both had suburb seasons. Well done to both.

The journey home wasn’t bad, it was a simple case of getting that one train back and it was again a quite train with only 1 or 2 on… Until we got to Blackburn were at least 30 cubs that had been on some form of field trip, in Blackburn?!? So, I and Tom had to cope with screaming kids for around 20 minutes but we managed to survive.

So, overall a really good day at Clitheroe, I was impressed with the set up there. The programme was of adequate quality and the game was excellent! I do recommend visiting Shawbridge; it’s a beautiful stadium and is home to a very friendly atmosphere. I must visit again sometime.