CHRIS Lowe reckons that Darwen's Thwaite's Smooth Bitter Cup victory makes up for missing out on hat-trick of league titles.

Darwen won their first cup final for 10 years with a 120-run victory over Leyland and Farington at Birch Hall on Sunday, and captain Lowe was delighted they had achieved one of their goals for the season.

He said: "One of our targets for the season was to win a cup and I was so pleased that we were able to do it at home in front of so many of our loyal supporters.

"This was a fantastic victory for the club. We have had some cracking games in this competition and everyone of the team has contributed at one stage or another."

John Cordingley, however, stood out as Thwaite's man of the match, although he was denied the glory of a century.

He was ;eft stranded on 99 not out when the Darwen innings closed on 214-5 after 40 overs, but had Leyalnd not worked so hard in the field Darwen could well have topped 250.

But their target was still too daunting for the Northern Premier's bottom side as Cordingley's match-winning innings included six fours and two sixes.

Keith Semple and Andrew Mercer did the early damage when Leyland then found themselves on 17-3 before Patel shook off a knee injury to reach a richly deserved 50, while his colleagues continued to depart at the other end.

Leyland were dismissed for 94 from 33 overs.

As for the Northern Premier League, Darwen secured third place thanks to an emphatic 15-point victory over fourth placed Morecambe on Saturday.

Darwen batted first and an opening stand of 100 between John Cordingley and Jackson put Darwen in the driving seat.

When Jackson fell for 38 professional Semple came top the crease and the Morecambe attack found him in top form.

Morecambe's sub pro Murali Kartik, from Ramsbottom, the leading wicket taker in the Lancashire League, had no answer for Semple's forceful batting as he hit six fours and two sixes on his way to an undefeated 76.

Semple was ably assisted by John Cordingley, who went for 71, and Gareth Cordingley, who was 42 not out when the innings closed on 242.

Morecambe opened with their two big hitters Thornton and Woodhead but Woodhead was soon snapped up by Lowe off Mercer's bowling for 4. Semple then dismissed Kartik for 15 and Thornton for 50.

Wickets continued to fall as Bird tried to hold the innings together as Morecambe closed in on Darwen's total. However when he was dismissed by Cook for 36 the Morecambe resistance crumbled.

The last four wickets fell for the addition of just 10 runs as Darwen won by 58 runs with three overs to spare.