A VISIT to Denton St Lawrence proved the bogey ground yet again for table-topping Prestwich.

Victories on DSL soil are like gold dust for the Heys outfit.

And any chance of striking the jackpot against one of their closest challengers last Saturday were blown away in a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat.

However, the silver lining was that the side remains top of the Lees Lancashire County League by five points.

Yet that lead could disappear tomorrow unless they put in an improved performance against second-placed Glossop.

The signs looked promising in the early stages when a 110-run partnership between Craig Duxbury and Ian Walker for the second wicket put Prestwich in a position to set a target beyond 200.

But Walker's innings ended five short of his half-century when he firmly drove to Bocarro at mid-wicket.

Duxbury surpassed 500 runs for the season, continuing his purple patch, and had totted up 78 before he holed out at deep mid-on.

That left the score on 146 for 3, but the Prestwich middle order failed to fire, causing a succession of wickets to fall and the run rate to slow up dramatically .

It was left to Chris Humphreys (15 not out) and Andy Bradley (10 not out) to put on a late, late surge and up the target to 180.

Prestwich needed to make an early strike or two, to put the home side on the rack.

But when sharp chances to Steve Orrell at slip and wicketkeeper Walker failed to stick, the DSL openers started to assert themselves, despite a tidy start from the in-form bowling duo of Humphreys and Bradley.

Paul Gould and Ian Rathbone reached 118 before Bradley had Rathbone caught legside by Walker for 47, and even when big-hitting Mike Bocarro was superbly stumped by Walker for just 8, the writing was on the wall.

Gould duly completed his century, and guided his side to victory with seven overs remaining, leaving their other batting phenomenon Steve Dublin unable to make an appearance at the crease.

It was a off day for the second XI when they lost their unbeaten record, suffering a two wicket defeat. But they also remain at the top of their division.