Clitheroe bid to close gap foiled
CALUM McIntyre was left ‘satisfied’ after his Runcorn Linnets maintained their eight-point gap over play-off rivals Clitheroe.
Saturday’s goalless draw between the sides benefited Linnets’ ambitions of finishing fifth in the Northern Premier League West Division whilst dealing a blow to the team now in seventh place, Bootle having risen to sixth, five points off Linnets, following their win at Newcastle Town.
“On the one hand you’re disappointed to drop points at home, our results here are very impressive and it’s very rare we do drop points – when we do, it tends to be against the teams at the top end of the division, Clitheroe being one of those sides,” said McIntyre.
“But, we’re at that stage of the season where every game has a context, it has an effect on someone else and other teams’ results have an impact on you.
“Clitheroe will have felt they needed to come here and win to eat into that eight-point cushion.
“So to prevent them from coming here and doing that, we have to be pleased.
“I thought we were tremendous defensively, so we’re satisfied without being pleased. For us to be eight points above Clitheroe is incredible. At the start of the season they would have been one of the sides people would have been tipping to win the league.”
Next up for Linnets is the trip to Kidsgrove on Saturday and a home side with a good record of upsetting the division’s higher placed teams.
“That will be a tough game, their form against the top sides at Kidsgrove is impressive, so we’re under no illusions what a tough test that will be,” said McIntyre.
“We’ve eight games to go now and it’s all about that bit of belief to get us over the line.”
● A 1-0 defeat for Runcorn Town at Burscough at the weekend confirmed the club’s relegation from the NWCFL Premier Division. The result left Town ten points adrift of Barnoldswick, who have three games in hand.