CLITHEROE 3 RUSHALL OLYMPIC 1

CLITHEROE are once more well on the road to FA Vase glory as a late show sealed them a last eight spot.

Dave Burgess's side will now travel to Chippenham Town to battle it out for a semi-final place -- and could have Sky television camera's there to record it all.

The satellite station rang Clitheroe after Saturday's win to discuss the possibility of filming the quarter-final showdown on their non league show.

"It would be great," said boss Dave Burgess, who is looking to go one better than 1996 when the Blues reached the final but lost to Brigg Town.

"It's a good chance for us to progress in front of the camera's.

"Getting into the last eight you actually start believing you can get to the final at Villa Park.

"Chippenham were finalists last season and second in their league but I do fancy our chances."

But it started so badly for Clitheroe against West Midland side Rushall Olympic.

Mick Moseley silenced the 500-strong home support with a goal inside three minutes.

"I told the players to keep it tight in the first 20 minutes and they went out and scored straight away but the good thing was we had plenty of time to recover," said the Blues manager.

And it wasn't long though before Clitheroe were back on track.

Assistant boss Lee Schulpher led by example and equalised on 18 minutes -- only his second goal of the season but what a crucial one it was.

A Barry Hart free kick was flapped at by the Rushall keeper and Neil Spencer fed the ball to Schulpher who fired home to the relief of his manager.

It was cat and mouse for the rest of the half but the visitors came closest to retaking the lead, striking the crossbar.

The game hinged on a dubious decision on the hour. Rushall claimed the ball had crossed the line before goalkeeper Chris Richens scooped it out.

The referee waved play-on, one of the visitors disagreed and was shown a straight red card.

"That was the turning point really. I couldn't see but we took control after that," said Burgess.

And they turned the control into a goal when Carl Greenwood had two attempts to convert a corner -- but fired it into the bottom corner to give the Blues a lead on 76 minutes.

And when Chris Whittingham was upended in the area, Mark Stuart made it safe three minutes from time -- although it took some nerve as Stuart had missed a spot-kick midweek.

"Once that went in, I could relax," joked Burgess who had special mention for Keith Lord and the groundstaff who worked from Wednesday morning with ten tonnes of sand to get the game on.

It's non stop action for the Blues who face Bamber Bridge in the Lancashire Trophy quarter-final tomorrow night.