DARWEN were well below par as they were soundly beaten in their mid-table NWCL Division Two clash with Holker Old Boys.

Dejected boss Steve Wilkes said: "It was a real bad day at the office, we couldn't even string three passes together in the first half.

"We created very little and were extremely poor right throughout the side."

Darwen did start quite brightly and had two goals ruled out, the second of which being a highly questionable offside decision.

From then on the hosts took control as Darwen's only further chance of note came from Mark Westhead, whose lashed strike was diverted over the crossbar by the Holker keeper.

Craig Salton then dinked the ball over Lee Purvis to give Holker a first-half lead, and an unmarked Joe Murphy sealed the points with a simple tap-in on 70 minutes.

HOLKER OLD BOYS ...2 DARWEN ...0