LEYLAND Daf lifted themselves off the bottom of the Vaux Northern League with a neat victory over Leyland in what could be the last ever local derby at Fox Lane.

Putting aside talk of a possible merger between the two rivals, both teams set about for victory in a bid to get as far away from the bottom of the league as possible.

After winning the toss, David Makinson elected to put Leyland into bat, a decision which soon reaped its reward when DAF professional Stephen John had opener Ian McDonnell caught by James Aspinall for four.

Shabir Mustafa and professional Neil Rimmer steadied the ship somewhat, taking the score up to 26 before Mustafa became the second victim of John's devastating bowling.

Phil Iddon caught Iddon behind for seven.

Second change bowler Simon Hogan made light work of the Leyland professional, dismissing him on 34 after bowling and catching him.

Without a single run added to the total, Mark Swan left the field through an LBW incident involving Hogan.

Leyland captain Mark Pallett and Neil Kenyon put together a 49-run partnership before the fifth wicket fell, Pallett departing after being bowled by off-spinner Stuart Catterall for 28.

Catterall struck again after Leyland hit the 90 mark, bowling Kenyon for 24, terminating an innings which had included two sixes and two fours.

Just six runs later, Ian Oakes fell for six and the final three wickets fell for just 13 runs, leaving Leyland all out for 109 with eight overs remaining.

And if DAF thought it would be easy to beat 109, they were soon in for a shock. They were soon reeling at 13-3 as the opening batsmen crumbled against Leyland's bowlers.

Pro Stephen John and James Atkins helped stop the rot by adding 30 runs before the fourth wicket fell, Atkins LBW to Neil Kenyon for nine.

After John was caught behind Martin Hackett off Steve Pallett, Ben Henderson and opener Alan Richardson saved the day, seeing DAF through to victory with an unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 61.

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