DARWEN paid for their sloppiness in front of goal as they crashed out of yet another cup competition in the opening round - this time at the hands of Holker Old Boys.

With the wind and slope in their favour, the first half saw Darwen miss chance after chance - with the returning Paul Baker, Gareth Woods, Dennis Hill and Craig Shaw the main culprits.

Lee Purvis was largely untroubled in the visitors' goal but the post and crossbar did come to his aid on one occasion after a strike by Murphy.

The game evened out in the second half, and the Barrow side edged in front after Purvis failed to keep out a tame downward header from Southward.

Darwen then committed men forward in pursuit of an equaliser and ultimately paid for their adventure as Murphy doubled Holker's lead after Phil Docker was left outnumbered in defence.

Paul Baker lashed in a consolation goal after a mazy run by Hill but it was too little too late for Darwen.

"Conceding goals as sloppy as the first one is becoming an alarming trend," said a bitterly disappointed Steve Wilkes. "We're getting beat in games we've dominated far too often and a lot of it is down to schoolboy errors.

"They're costing us valuable points in the league and now we've shot ourselves in the foot in another cup competition.

HOLKER OLD BOYS...2 DARWEN...1