STEVE Wilkes is no stranger to throwing caution to the wind.

After handing a debut to 14-year-old son Louis in Darwen's 2-1 win over Castleton Gabriels, the father and son duo then came on in a double substitution eight minutes from time in their 5-3 defeat against Stone Dominoes.

But the Darwen boss admitted he wouldn't be using his last two games to experiment for next season.

Wilkes would prefer to end the campaign on a high, with his strongest starting 11, and use the summer to assess his options for next season.

"Tomorrow's game against Cheadle is the last home game of the season and we want to give the spectators that do turn up something to look forward to for next season," he said.

"We want to go out with a bang.

"Tomorrow's starting line-up depends on who's available. Hopefully I'll have Scott Derbyshire back after his back injury but Andy Walsh is unavailable for the rest of the season."

One thing Wilkes will be looking into over the summer is a way for his Anchor Ground side to iron out their inconsistencies.

"I don't want to have to go down the road of being an ugly team, playing unattractive football," he said.

"But if it means winning games then I'll do it.

"It's been frustrating how we can beat some of the teams at the top of the league, like when we beat Bacup 2-0, but can't see off the likes of Oldham Town and other teams around the bottom."

Wilkes was, however, delighted to have the opportunity to play alongside his son in a first team game, and was confident there would be more chances in the future.

"Louis came on for Denny Khan and I replaced Matt Atkinson," he said.

"I wasn't considering it at the time but Matt's our captain and he encouraged me to do it.

"I offered the captain's armband to Louis but he said no because he felt I was embarrassing him.

"But, although the game was over by the time we came on because we were 5-3 down, he did okay again."

Louis went on to score twice for Lostock Juniors the following day, when he was watched by a Blackburn Rovers scout.

The young striker had also been invited to attend Lancashire Under 16s trials next season after a representative spotted last week's story about Darwen's youngest player in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.