Clipstone hammered after second-half collapse

In front of 225 supporters, the biggest gate of the season, the Cobras showed plenty of spirit and fight in the first period which ended goalless.

However the all too familiar defensive weaknesses re-appeared after half-time as Worksop gained control with a brace from Conor Higginson and a Micah Bishop effort.

A late goal from Kyle Jordan and another from Bishop made it 5-0 at the end, a scoreline that rather flattered the Tigers.

Clipstone made two changes from the side that played Pickering Town seven days earlier with Jason Alexander returning in goal and Matt Hubbard replacing the injured Jermaine Jatau.

Worksop included former Cobras’ Alec Denton, Jordan Hodder and Michael Trench in their starting lineup.

The first real chance of the game fell to the home side on 11 minutes when a corner fell nicely to Nathan Cotton whose shot was blocked initially by Mitch Husbands and Cotton then put the rebound wide.

Tim Gregory then shot over for the home side when well-placed.

Worksop’s Bishop then forced a good one-handed save from Jason Alexander with the ‘keeper having to stretch his 6 foot 7 inch frame to the limit to reach the shot.

A great ball from Worksop captain Steve Woolley put in Alec Denton on 33 minutes but the former Cobra almost had too much time and Alexander did well to make himself big and block Denton’s shot with Fenn Radford heading the rebound clear.

Cobras’ skipper Ben Rogers then created a shooting opportunity for Gareth Curtis but the Cobras’ top scorer shot straight at Jon Kennedy in the Worksop goal.

The Tigers were straight out of the blocks in the second half well and took the lead when Higginson lost his marker and had an easy tap in at the near post to convert a cross from Bishop.

Worksop doubled their lead in the 60th minute when a dangerous cross by Bishop was initially clawed away by Alexander.

When Clipstone defenders missed opportunities to clear the loose ball Higginson was the first to react and produced a fine curling finish that Alexander was

A long ball over the top then put Bishop in and his well-executed lob beat the on-rushing Alexander and landed in the empty net.

The Cobras managed to steady the ship at this point and came close to scoring when Cotton was just unable to get a boot to a fine curling cross from Curtis.

Just as it looked as though the home side would restrict their visitors to three, Worksop struck twice late on.

On 88 minutes a cross from the right by Liam Greenfield was headed home at the far post by an unmarked Kyle Jordan and Bishop then completed a fine individual performance by going past several half-hearted challenges before beating Alexander with a low shot inside the near post.