CLITHEROE were lucky to fulfil this fixture at all after five players walked out before their game against Shepshed Dynamos.

The players, signed by Tommy Lawson, who was sacked last week, left the club in the lurch after indicating they would stay with the club.

The result, a 5-0 defeat, was almost an irrelevance as the club had to quickly try and gather enough players to get the game on.

Caretaker manager Mark Smetheringale had a huge task on his hands but with a group of players that had remained loyal to the cause, plus a sprinkling of reserve players on loan from Accrington Stanley, enabled the fixture to be completed.

In truth, the scoreline was a fair reflection on the game as with so many new players, seven teenagers making their debut, and the group playing together for the first time it was no surprise that the Blues struggled to gel as a team against the Dynamos.

Blues chairman Carl Garner said: "Five players gave their word to the club at training on Thursday but then took it back on Friday.

"So we had to use a mix of untried reserve team players and reserves from Stanley and we have to thank Eric Whalley for that.

"We're very proud of the players who came in and we had fantastic support but we'll be working very hard to get some quality players in and make sure this doesn't happen again.

"The non-league people of East Lancashire should be aware that Clitheroe have not died - they are just about to be re-born."