CLITHEROE made it six games unbeaten last night, but they needed extra time to progress to the second round of the Marsden Cup.

A scrappy 90 minutes produced little entertainment as the players made hard work of the task at hand. A badly cut up pitch did not help matters, but on both sides, control was lacking and passes went unnecessarily astray.

The referee was also a factor in a poor game, pulling out needless yellow cards for innocuous tackles, and yet failing to clamp down when the game badly missed his authority.

Chances were few and far between with both sides hardly managing to string two passes together at times. In the second half, the game deteriorated into an exchange of long balls as the pitch degenarated. However, after 10 minutes of extra time it was a low through ball that found Brian Welch, who beat the offside trap to slot in the opening goal.

It was ironic that after 100 minutes of terrible passing, it was a precise through ball that led to the deadlock being broken by the Clitheroe midfielder.

Five minutes from time, the home side caught Atherton with men forward and broke down the right-hand side. Darren Norman's deep cross found Dennis Hill who nodded the ball home on his return from suspension.

Atherton had no answer as Clitheroe deservedly booked a place in round two.

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