Honours even after incident-packed tie
● when McGivern found him with a header across the six-yard box, but Rainford’s effort lacked conviction and the ‘keeper saved comfortably.
And in the 69th minute, a huge chance went begging for the Linnets, a cleared free kick found Paul Shanley on the left side of the penalty area and his pinpoint cross picked out Peter Wylie with a free header a few yards from goal. Wylie connected well with the ball but headed wide.
With 15 minutes remaining, Clitheroe almost put the game to bed when a header from a corner was cleared off the Linnets goal line, and they will curse the fact that the ball strayed out because what was about to unfold is hard to comprehend!
In the 80th minute, with the game close to being won, a moment of “madness” from Clitheroe goalscorer Owen Watkinson changed everything.
Watkinson caught Pete Wylie in the face with an elbow and was shown a straight red card by the match official.
Tempers flared from both sides and amid a mass pushing and shoving contest near the dugouts, Linnets coach Chris Lawton was sent to the stands and Bayleigh Passant was shown a yellow card.
Within a minute, Runcorn halved the deficit.
Ryan Wade got a bit of luck when a sliced first touch fell in his favour and with a yard of space, he clipped the ball over the advancing goalkeeper - a lovely finish to put the scoreline at 3-2, in favour of Clitheroe.
Zac Aley set Jamie Rainford up with a chance to equalise but Jamie tried to shift the ball on to his right foot instead of slamming his left foot through it, and this momentary hesitation allowed time for a tackle.
With a minute to go, Clitheroe’s Connor Gaul ran through the Linnets defence and drew a great save from Passant, the young goalkeeepr also being called into action with another save just seconds later, from a corner.
With the Linnets still trailing 3-2, the game entered its 90th minute, and fortunes changed from despair to jubilation in a matter of seconds.
A cross to the far post picked out Rainford with the goal begging, but his volley was a tame effort that allowed the goalkeeper to palm the ball away and back into play.
With both sides expecting a goal, players from both sides were slow to react to the unexpected loose ball - all except Kurt Sherlock who was brought down by a clumsy tackle for a clear penalty.
Sherlock dusted himself down to send the goalkeeper the wrong way, level the scores and send the travelling Linnets fans wild.
Knowing that there was to be a whopping seven minutes of injury time, it felt like another goal was almost inevitable.
Perhaps distracted by the hype of getting back on level terms, the Linnets defence was once again beaten with shocking ease by a direct run from Gaul, the wide man picking out Terry Cummings who fired the ball past Passant to restore Clitheroe’s lead.
As the clock ticked towards the 97th minute, there would be one final twist in this almost fairytale game of football.
Linnets pressed forward and with the Clitheroe area packed full of bodies, Kurt Sherlock’s lofted ball in struck the arm of a defender and the referee pointed to the spot immediately despite furious protests from the home side.
Kurt Sherlock showed nerves of steel to outwit the goalkeeper and score with an identical penalty to the one he had taken just seven minutes earlier.
The referee brought proceedings to an immediate close after the penalty and all inside Clitheroe’s Shawbridge ground tried to take stock of what they had just witnessed.
Linnets are back at the Millbank Stadium on Saturday as they host Kendal Town, kick off 3pm.