STUTTERING Darwen suffered another bad day in the Chorley Building Society Northern League as fellow high flyers Blackpool claimed all the points at Birch Hall on Saturday.

Jordan Clarke’s men, who have slipped off the top of the table in recent weeks, had no answer to the bowling of Richard Gleeson and professional Christi Viljoen as the pair brought pain to the Towers as they slumped to 70 all out and a 100 run defeat.

Darwen bowled well enough as Blackpool were bowled out for 170 with Kamran Anwar claiming 4-55 and Neil Cordingley 3-16 from 10 overs.

Viljoen made 27 for the visitors but the real damage was done by the lower order as Alex Smith made 45, while Stephen Twist hit 32 and Steven Mercer made 30 and their combined efforts at least got the seasiders up to a reasonable score.

And that score suddenly looked gigantic as openers Clarke and Ammer Mirza both went for ducks and Chris Clarke followed suit.

There was worse to come when professional George Linde fell for three and the writing was on the wall.

John and Neil Cordingley at least showed some purpose with 21 and 20 not out respectively but Darwen were dashed out inside 26 overs with Gleeson claiming 5-31 and Viljoen 4-31.

Darwen had a much better day yesterday as they rounded off a rare double header with a maximum point win over Lancaster at Birch Hall.

Professional George Linde led the way with the bat as he made 90 as the Towers racked up 214-8 from their 50 overs before Lancaster’s brittle batting was shattered by the pace of Kamran Anwar.

He claimed 5-43 as Lancaster were shot out for just 107.