COLWYN BAY VS CLITHEROE
AFTER the seven goal extravaganza at Radcliffe, it was another frustrating day at home for the Seagulls as they were held to a goalless draw by Clitheroe and missed out on the chance to go second in the table.

Manager Neil Young was angry that his side had not been awarded a penalty for a challenge on Jamie Dunn which also forced his early retirement through injury, but admitted that in the end his side had not done enough to force the win.

"It was a definite penalty," he fumed. "Jamie has got the ball past the defender who has gone right through him and left stud marks right down his shin.

"Losing him so early did not help. But we didn't play the ball through midfield like we did at Radcliffe, we played too many long balls, and we made the wrong choices when we did get in good positions.

"We had a couple of 10 minute spells when we did well and they couldn't get the ball off us, but we need to be doing for that for the best part of 90 minutes.

"I did try to warn people not to get too carried away by the win at Radcliffe. We are missing experienced players like Jimmy Kelly, Carl Clampitt and Steve Aspinall at the moment and with young lads in the side you are going to get inconsistency because they are still learning. That showed today.

"We tried to change things in the second half by switching Rob Hopley to give us a bit more strength up front, but couldn't get the ball in the net.

"Our form at home is a worry, but after we reached the play-offs last season, sides are going to come to our place and set themselves up differently to try and frustrate us - and it is our job to try and break them down.

"The one positive thing is that we kept a second successive clean sheet and the performance was nowhere near as bad as against St Helens. Once we get everybody fit and back in action, hopefully then we can start to find the consistency that we are lacking at the moment."
The early loss of Dunn through injury was clearly a blow as his pace and trickery down the right had caused Clitheroe problems and the side missed that threat.

They should still have been ahead at half-time, however, with Anthony Sheehan missing two excellent opportunities - failing to turn the ball over the line from Sheridan's low driven cross when it seemed he must score, and then blazing another great chance over the bar from eight yards.

New signing Stuart Graves, who made his debut in an otherwise unchanged side, went close with a shot that flew narrowly wide and saw a free kick deflected over the bar off a defender.
Those were among seven attempts at goal by the Bay in the first half, against just three by Clitheroe, who did force Chris Sanna into a good save later on, diving to turn a shot from Lydon Hodgkiss round the post for one of three Clitheroe corners.

The second half was mostly a scrappy affair and not helped by a 20 minute delay when referee Mike Granda pulled a calf muscle and a substitute linesman had to be found (local referee Alan Cureton answering the call).

But for the most part the Bay struggled to create clear cut openings, with Tom McGill, so lively at Radcliffe on Monday, finding it tough going against two big, strong defenders in Jonathan Forbes and Gavin Lee-Ellison, and he was eventually replaced by Eddie Jebb, with Rob Hopley pushed back up front from his new central defensive position.
That helped create late Bay pressure, which intensified when Clitheroe defender Liam McManus was sent off for a second yellow card eight minutes from the end.
Hopley, Tim Brandreth , Sheehan and Matty Hurdman all went close to breaking the deadlock, but the 10 men held out for a point.

Possibly Eddie Jebb might have come on earlier when Dunn was injured, because the Bay lacked an attacking threat down the flanks until he came on, but overall the Bay will be frustrated that two points got away from them.

The result means they drop from third to fifth place in the table, and are five points behind leaders Halifax, who ended Lancaster City's unbeaten run with a 1-0 away victory.
They and Curzon Ashton, who have gone second after a 3-1 win at Radcliffe with Dean Canning on the scoresheet, are now the only sides still undefeated in what is shaping up to be a very competitive division.

Report courtesy of Tim Channon

Pictures courtesy of Martin Lyons Photography