Good win over tough opposition

Fleetwood had anticipated a tough game against their much-fancied opposition who had scored some impressive previous results. However it wasn’t long before the evergreen Andy Singleton opened the scoring to give Fleetwood a 5-0 lead.
It was a familiar pattern for Fleetwood with lock James Cameron and flanker Danny Tomlinson securing a constant supply of line-out ball, the latter being a constant thorn in the side of his opposition back row and half backs. No. 8 Mike Wilson also had a fine game covering the ground well and driving the ball forwards on several occasions.
In the backs Chris Clapp had another excellent game, always threatening with ball in hand and providing great service to fellow half back Michael Dewhirst who allegedly made two tackles during this game to double his lifetime record.
Centres Ricky Newton and Lee Jones were always on hand to produce some strong running with good support from wingers Bobby Jones and youngster Jack Crompton who scored an excellent individual try before half time after some swift interplay by the backs. Dewhirst converted to make it 12-0 at half time which came after 45 minutes of play.

Fleetwood were never in danger and continued to dominate a game that started to deteriorate as tempers frayed and the referee appeared to lose control of the situation. Fleetwood made changes with Scott “Asda price” Astin replacing Mark Evans and big Steve Buzza adding weight to the front row. Ben Holland also came on in the second row giving Andy Holmes a much needed breather.
Chris Lyons also took a break to allow Mike Burrows to return for a second period on the pitch in the front row.
The changes did not appear to unsettle the home side and they continued to apply pressure to their visitors with some intelligent kicking from Dewhirst and strong running from the centres and full-back Jim Haigh who capped off an excellent performance with a try under the posts, converted by Dewhirst who is now under pressure to make it 3 tackles in 1 game next week.
Clitheroe did attempt to run the ball throughout the game but seemed to lack any real penetration and were thwarted by a well-organised and committed defence by their hosts.
Despite their continued success there is some trepidation of the prospect of promotion to a very competitive league where Fleetwood would be faced with tough fixtures every week though skipper Newton must be very pleased with his team’s efforts this season so far.