RAMSBOTTOM United will bid to put their away-day blues behind them as they attempt to extend their winning start at “Fortress Riverside”.

Mark Fell’s men made it five straight home wins on Saturday after Tolani Omotola’s first-half strike sealed a 1-0 victory over in-form Prescot Cables.

But the Rams missed an opportunity to improve on their sixth place in Evo-Stik North on Tuesday when they lost 4-3 at Clitheroe – their third straight away defeat.

They have a chance to get back on track this week with two matches at home, against fourth-placed Bamber Bridge on Saturday and Brighouse Town on Tuesday.

But Fell knows they cannot rely on their home form to power a promotion push.

“We’ve won all five at home, but we’ve drawn two and lost three away,” he said. “We need to be better away from home. You can’t expect to be challenging at the top end of the table by picking up two points from 15 away.”

Rammy stormed into a two-goal lead inside the opening quarter of an hour against Clitheroe.

Greg Daniels’ deflected shot gave them a ninth-minute lead and Luke Thompson doubled their advantage five minutes later with a tap-in from six yards.

Sam Heathcote almost put them three up after his long-range shot cannoned back off the post.

But the home side reduced the deficit through Kurt Willoughby on 26 minutes.

Rammy remained in control, however, until a three-goal burst from Clitheroe in the final 20 minutes turned the match on its head.

Alex Newby equalised from close range on 71 minutes and Willoughby’s drilled free kick found a way through the Rammy wall to put Clitheroe ahead three minutes later.

New striker Tom Greaves, signed on dual registration from FC United, was unlucky not to restore parity as he was twice denied in quick succession by the home stopper. But Willoughby put the match out of reach with his hat-trick goal, tucking away a penalty four minutes from time, making Heathcote’s late third goal for Rammy a mere consolation.

Fell added: “Clitheroe didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. Other than the second goal we’ve gifted them everything else.

“To say it’s frustrating is an understatement, we played some of our best attacking football of the season, only to let ourselves down at the other end of the pitch.”