RAMSBOTTOM'S season ended on a disappointing note with two defeats over the weekend against opposition, they should have been favourites to beat.

Saturday's defeat against Church was down to losing the toss, but on Sunday they probably chose the wrong option by battling first on a wicket that offered a lot of assistance to seam bowling.

With threatening clouds overhead the Rams round run scoring extremely difficult on a green top at Church, and their cause was not helped by two rain interruptions and the unfortunate run-out of sub professional Danny Law who lost his footing while trying to make his ground.

The second interruption proved to be the killer, as 11 overs were lost at a time when the batsmen would be looking to accelerate.

This resulted in only 12 overs of the innings remaining when play eventually resumed, and the Acre Bottom side were forced to try and post a reasonable target.

Tight bowling by the experienced John Settle and sub professional Saeed Anwar Jnr made this almost impossible on a wicket that was very lively, so a final target of 86 was never going to be enough.

Still, Danny Law earned his fee with a spell of hostile bowling which saw the home side reduced to 30 for three, before Anwar took charge and with a mixture of good strokes and the necessary luck (caught off a late called no ball when only 10 and managed to top edge three boundaries over the wicket keeper's head) saw Church home in double quick time.

The following day the Rams probably regretted in hindsight their decision to bat first on a wicket, which had a rain softened top on a rock hard base.

This resulted in a lot of sideways movement which the Rams batters found hard to cope with. Wickets fell at regular intervals and after 35 overs the innings was ended for a paltry 85.

Amazingly, Todmorden did not have the roller put on the wicket at the interval, resulting in there still being a bit of life left in the pitch. Michael Haslam and Mark Price exploited this, and thanks to some excellent back up from the fielders succeeded, in reducing the opposition to 36 for six.

With conditions easing by the minute, Priestley and Campbell showed those who had gone before them how to bat, and with a mixture of patience and fine shots took their side to victory without any further scares.

Mark Price's four wicket haul enabled him to equal John Fielding's post war record of 72 League wickets in a season.