The pre-match talk was all about opportunities and controlling the match. Clifton came into
the fixture in second place but 12 points behind visitors Leicester Lions, knowing that a win
today would cut the deficit and put some pressure on their title contenders.

The Match started brightly with both sides probing and testing. The balance of territory and possession belonged to Lions but the Lavender and Black wall stayed firm as Clifton
defended well. The quality of play and handling from the league’s two top sides showed as it was 15 minutes before the first scrum. Early runs from Clifton Skipper Nel showed promise but with 30 minutes gone it was still scoreless.

The half was closing when persistent pressure from Leicester saw Stubbs score, with a pick
and go, for Young to convert (0-7); the homeside losing Broady to the sin bin in the line
defence. Clifton had just a minute to regroup before Wilcockson struck, chasing down a kick through, to score under the posts. Young added the conversion (0-14).

During half time, a now familiar resurgence, saw Clifton come out rejuvenated. Nel, again
found a gap for Zak Ward to score and Cozens to convert (7-14). WIth the sun now shining,
the crowd picked up on the energy and spurred the homeside on. Giltrow came on in the
front row for Clifton and the forward battle started to swing toward the Station Road side.
Clifton’s Talbot burst through several tackles to score on 62 minutes for Cozens to convert
(14-14) and the match was all square into the last quarter.

Clifton has several opportunities to take the lead but small errors snuffed out attacks, one
leading to Lions driving downfield and earning a penalty for Young to take the lead (14-17).
Again the home team battles upfield and an error from Lions in their dead ball area seemed
to be the chance Clifton needed. However, the ball came out of the scrum sideways and
Lions exited well.

Pushing hard the promotion favourites had a chance to seal the win with a last minute
penalty but opted for a lineout and catch and drive instead. Thompson drove over the line,
Young converted (14-24) and Leicester took the win denying Clifton a losing bonus point.
An excellent match between the two best teams in the league, as Lions Head Coach Gareth Collins commented, “It was never going to be easy coming here. Small margins separate
good sides and we were lucky to take our chances today. Clifton played well.”

Matt Salter was left to rue lapses in execution. "It's tough, these are probably the best two teams in the league and when you go into these types of games, you have to execute. We had a few chances when we were in the 22 with little time remaining on the clock, but we either couldn't execute or we made a error and we lost momentum. We put ourselves in a position to win the game, but ultimately, we didn't convert those and then Lions head down the other end and score. This is tough, it's a big gap to them in terms of league points, but we have to just keep focussed on ourselves, ensure we maintain our consistency over the last 2 months of the season and keep going. We've got a big game next week against Hinckley, so we won't dwell on this. We gave a good account of ourselves and that is what matters."