A LATE goal from substitute John Morgan wrecked Darwen's chances of claiming another famous scalp in the Marsden Lancashire Trophy.

But Anchor boss Steve Wilkes had nothing but praise for his brave troops after watching his side push UniBond Premier Division outfit Marine all the way in this full-blooded cup tie.

"That's probably the proudest I've felt since I took over as Darwen manager," said Wilkes.

"We were absolutely tremendous and I couldn't have asked any more."

Robbed of Neil Durkin, Scott Derbyshire and Jimmy Khan, who were forced out through injury on the day of the game, Wilkes' makeshift side magnificently bridged a gap of three Divisions.

And striker Steve Lynch typified their fighting spirit with an awesome display as an emergency centre half.

The Anchormen had two glorious opportunities to take the lead in the first half.

First, leading scorer Paul Baker intercepted a sloppy pass from Gary Randles but after advancing on goal he fired narrowly wide.

Then Lee Slater embarked on a brilliant mazy dribble which took him past three challenges but keeper Chris Clake some how got a hand to his shot and pushed it over.

Marine's only chance of the half fell to Peter Smith but his rasping half volley from a Mark Nulty cross flew fractionally over the bar.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Darwen continued to dictate proceedings.

Mark Bennett should have made that pressure count when Neil Almond's deflected centre arrived at his feet eight yards out but somehow he fired wide of the target.

That miss was ultimately to prove costly, however, with just six minutes left.

The ball arrived at ther feet of Marine's leading scorer Morgan on the edge of the box and he stroked a shot into the bottom corner to finally crack the Anchormen's resolve.

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