BLACKPOOL rid themselves of an irritation that had been bothering them for seven years at Windsor Park, Chorley on Saturday.

They defeated top-of-the-table Chorley in their Vaux Northern League Division One clash by five wickets, thus ending a winless streak stretching back to 1991.

Chorley, put in to bat, made 173-5 from their 50 overs and Blackpool replied with a magnificent 176-5 with three balls of the match remaining.

Chorley started disastrously and lost three wickets for 21 runs.

Marcus Sharp had Fazackerley leg before wicket for eight, David Cresswell had Chorley captain Roland Horridge nearly taken in the fully by Bracewell for seven and Heaton was caught behind by stand-in wicketkeeper John Caunce for a duck off Sharp.

Gary Mayor and Neil Senior steadied the innings with a partnership of 53 in 53 minutes before the big-hitting Senior was smartly caught at slip by Sharp off Danson for 37 at 74-4.

The stubborn Mayor was joined by Mark Richardson and they carried on the good work.

They put on 48 in even time before Mayor, a patient 36, failed to connect properly to a rising ball from Sharp and only succeeded in prodding it to Cartmell.

That was Blackpool's last success and they let the remainder of the innings get away from them as Richardson, missed off a very difficult chance to Bracewell at short leg early in his innings, reached 53 not out from 73 balls with one six and four fours.

Ian Mawdsley, 18 not out, helped him add 51 in only 28 minutes to take Chorley to an unexpected 173-5 at the close of their innings.

A new opening pair, Chris Cornall and Michael Moore, started the Blackpool innings and it was hard going against some lively bowling from Chorley professional Tim Menting and new boy Iqbal Patel.

Menting had Moore dropped at fine leg before he had scored but at eight Cornall, six, was leg before wicket to Patel.

A half-hit Eccleshare hit Moore high on the pad and was adjudged leg before wicket for 16 with the total at 36 but then Bracewell and Wiggans added 60 in 51 minutes and put Blackpool back into contention.

They required 89 from the final 20 overs but in the second of them Bracewell, 38, was a little late on a ball from Patel which dislodged his off stump.

Wiggans was joined by the effervescent Danson and the pair accumulated runs steadily despite Chorley skipper Horridge constantly switching his bowlers and continually resetting his field.

With smart running between the wickets the pair put on 61 in 49 minutes before Danson, 40, took a first run too slowly and when called for a second he was beaten by Menting's intelligent throw to the bowler's end.

It was 157-4 with 17 required from four overs.

Wiggans went to his second 50 of the season and got the target down to nine from 11 balls when, at 164, he gave a simple catch to Horridge at extra cover when chasing a widish ball from left arm spinner Purnell.

His match-winning 54 came from 88 balls with four fours.

New boy Dave Cartmell and Marcus Sharp scampered four from the rest of the over and Blackpool started the final over from Heaton with five required for a long-awaited victory.

It came after just three balls: in the now sepulchral light Sharp took a single from the first ball and raced back to make two for Cartmell from the next.

Cartmell then swung Heaton high over square leg for the winning boundary as Blackpool celebrated ending a barren run which had lasted seven years and had encompassed 18 league and cup games.

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