DARWEN suffered another heavy away defeat, when they were deservedly beaten by Bootle this afternoon.

The home team dominated from the start, and it was a surprise that it took them over half an hour to score.

After numerous chances, Jay Rainford headed into the net, followed two minutes later by Andy Fowler, who put in a low shot from the edge of the area.

It was 35 minutes before Mawdsley in the Bootle goal was called on to save a Darwen shot, a tame free kick. But two minutes later, a muddle in the home defence enabled Ben Stanford to steal in and score.

Bootle started the second half as they did the first, and any hopes of Darwen getting something from the game were dashed by Fowler, who scored two more within the first 20 minutes to complete his hat-trick.

Rainford added another for Bootle near the end, before Darwen substitute Jon Stephenson scored late on.