Darwen 3 Prescot Cables 2

PRESCOT'S involvement in this season's Worthington Challenge Trophy ended at the second round stage on a wet, murky night in Lancashire.

The first division visitors dominated for much of the game but were unable to turn this superiority into goals and paid the ultimate price.

Second Division Darwen got off to a dream start with two goals inside the first eight minutes, the first an 18-yard shot from Derbyshire which was deflected past Dahl in the Prescot goal and the second a 25-yard strike by Peter Baker through a crowd of players which the kepper appeared to see late.

Prescot took control of the game after that disastrous start and played some excellent football. A defensive mix-up allowed Jensen to steal in, but keeper Purvis was quick off his line to block. Then Garforth showed great skill to get into the box and drove the ball across goal for Tommy Baker to side-foot home from six-yards.

Cables Prescot continued to press forward and Purvis saved a 20-yard effort from Taylor after Garforth and Weston had worked the opening for him, then Jensen went close with a chip that just cleared the bar. Purvis also tipped over a well-struck drive from Baker and then parried an effort from Jensen and was grateful to see a defender block Garforth's shot from the rebound as Darwen were relieved to go in at half-time still in the lead.

The second half started as the first had finished with Prescot on the offensive. In the opening ten minutes Garforth had two shots blocked, Jensen shot wide once and had another shot saved and O'Neill also had a shot saved.

So it was no surprise when the visitors drew level 12 minutes into the half when O'Neill drew Purvis and chipped the ball over his dive after being played through by Baker.

But after dominating the game for so long, Cables fell to a sucker punch five minutes later when a Darwen corner was only half-cleared and the ball fell to Webb who hit it on the volley over a ruck of players and into the net to restore Darwen's lead on 62 minutes.

The final quarter again saw Prescot dominate but to no avail. O'Neill and Jensen combined to open up the Darwen defence for the latter to slip the ball past Purvis but his effort struck the post and a defender just beat O'Neill to the rebound.

That was the closest they came to saving the game, although they created a number of other chances with O'Neil heading wide, Baker having a shot deflected over the bar and a header that went wide, Hughes shooting over and Jensen having a shot saved by Purvis and hitting a free-kick just wide.

Despite this defeat, there were plenty of encouraging signs for Prescot, particularly in their passing and movement, which bodes well for their league campaign.