THREE goals in eight second half minutes ended Clitheroe's interest in the Worthington Challenge Trophy at the second round stage.

But it was a brave and spirited performance from the Blues who, for an hour at least, looked the better side against their NWCL Division One title rivals.

Lee Sculpher's men had gone into the match missing key players, with Carl Greenwood out with flu and Andy Cowking unavailable, and when the player-boss himself had to limp out of the battle after half time his side faced an uphill battle.

"When I went off we only had two recognised defenders left on the park. We had to reshuffle and put two midfield men back there but they are a good side and took advantage," said a disappointed Sculpher.

Clitheroe's resources were stretched to breaking point and Lee Cooper finally ended their resistance when he broke the deadlock for St Helens - who lead the way in the Division One title race - after 69 minutes when he took advantage of Clitheroe's inability to clear the ball.

Two minutes later Matt Farrell effectively killed the game off when he scored the hosts' second from a corner.

Chris Birmingham then fired an unstoppable free kick into the top corner in the 77th minute to put the gloss on the scoreline for St Helens.

But despite the cup exit, Sculpher was not too downhearted and said there were plenty of positives to take from what was only his second managerial defeat.

"For the first hour we played really well. We hardly let them get near our goal and we created a couple of half decent chances which we couldn't stick away," he said. "We just had a mad 10 minutes in the second half but other than that we played as well as we have all season.

"Neil Spencer who took over the captaincy from Barry Hart had an excellent game."

Clitheroe will be hoping to be back to full strength for an important league game at home to Salford tomorrow night when victory would see Sculpher's men back on top spot.

RESULT: ST HELENS TOWN...3

CLITHEROE...0