THERE'S the easy way of winning a cup final and there's the Walshaw way!

That can be the only conclusion after dramatic events that resulted in the Sycamore Road club lifting the Bolton Association's Cross Cup at Adlington on Sunday.

Winners of the trophy in 2002, there seemed little chance of a repeat early in their innings when opponents Clifton - defeated in last year's final - had them floundering at 13 for 3 after nine overs.

Despite a partial recovery that took the local side to 90 for 6, the Swinton club looked well set to erase the misery of 12 months ago, until Walshaw skipper Antony 'Bomber' Harris arrived at the crease.

A broken finger had forced the captain to bat down the order in recent weeks but he made up for lost time and took the game by the scruff of the neck with a real skipper's innings.

Linking up with Liam Riley (28) the pairing steadied the ship to put on 30, then Harris received vital support from Dave Leach (11) and Alec Roughley (3 not out).

He finished unbeaten on 47 as Walshaw set a target of 172 for 9 that looked highly unlikely at one point.

On a good Adlington track Clifton must have fancied their chances with the target only a little above three an over.

However, they found the Bury side in no mood to let them back in the game and a superb display of bowling and fielding pinned their batsmen down.

Danny Hornby was the cream of the Walshaw crop of bowlers, dismissing four of the opposition's top batsmen during his ten over spell.

Then professional Jonathan Fielding, Rob Faulkner and Riley took over and wickets began to fall at regular intervals.

Geoff Griffiths did his best to keep his side in the game with 30, but it was a forlorn hope as they fell further and further behind the run rate.

A decent partnership between Mark Wolstenholme and Rob Jackson also moved the score along late in the innings but it was always going to be too little too late for Clifton who were the bridesmaids for the second successive season.

They were eventually dismissed for 143 with Harris deservedly taking the man-of-the-match award.

It was a game of frustation at Golborne on the Saturday when Walshaw failed to dislodge the final pairing for an outright win.

They had set a sizeable 245 for 6 total in the first innings mainly thanks fo a magnificent innings of 111 from paid man Fielding and 65 from opener Faulkner.

However, despite the aforementioned Fielding and Faulkner sharing nine wickets between them, there was to be no happy ending as the home side hung on to finish on 168 for 9.