Jas Colliver delighted as Clipstone keep good run going

Colliver said: “This was by far the best performance from the team as a collective this season.

“We have set our standards over the last few weeks and now we must continue to show that work ethic and commitment on a more consistent basis.

“I was delighted with the performance and the result especially the clean sheet.”

Neither side were able to conduct a proper warm up, due to them both only being allocated a small area apiece to go through their preparations on in order to protect the pitch.

All of this aside the Cobras hadn’t gone all the way to Humberside, to let the pitch ruin their away day and it was the young visiting side that seemed to deal with the conditions better than their more experienced hosts.

Clipstone began the first half on top and looked the better of the two sides, with Wall looking sharp and causing Barton problems every time he had the ball. Out on the left, Walker looked equally threatening, but with the ball holding up on the difficult surface, it helped the Swans defence to nip several attacks in the bud.

Barton very rarely threatened Hernandez in the Cobras goal, while Salt and Magee defended valiantly, winning everything that Barton played up to Barlow. who was playing in a forward role today.

Full-back Randle had a good first half and looked comfortable defending with the ball on the floor, but was more impressive in the air, which meant Royles didn’t have a great deal to do and was very much on ‘stand by’ for the majority of the opening 45 minutes.

Hernandez only had one save to make before the break, when he acrobatically tipped a deflected shot around the post.

On 35 minutes the deadlock was finally broken when Walker beat the full-back and crossed crossed for Denton, who calmly slotted the ball home from close range.

The Cobras maintained their high tempo and kept pressing forward until to the interval, but despite creating several chances as they sought to increase the lead, it wasn’t to be.

Clipstone came out for the second half and continued where they had left off, playing a pressing game and applying pressure from all over the pitch.

A minute after the restart, Denton picked up possession on the halfway line and motored forward, before drilling the ball past Ramsden in the Barton goal from 18 yards out to double the Cobras advantage..

The more the game went on, the more that Barton visibly tired and their tactic to hold a high line across the park, proved to be their Achilles heel and undoing.

Walker, Denton and Smith all beat the offside trap, but a combination of the heavy pitch and a good goalkeeping performance, prevented the visitors from building on their two goal cushion.

The highly rated Josh Scully made his Clipstone debut in the 71st minute, replacing Smith, who had run himself to a standstill on a tiring surface.