Middlewich 122 all out Congleton 123-5 MIDDLEWICH continued to undo their earlier season's hard work by falling to relegation contenders Congleton, which now pulls Middlewich to within six points of the drop zone.

Having lost the toss yet again, Middlewich were asked to bat and their top order again failed to provide any real foundations as Congleton's bowlers piled on the pressure.

The top three batsmen all got starts but were unable to produce any real contributions.

Phil Parry (35) and Neil Webb (22) were the only players to really trouble the scorers.

A couple more umpiring decisions went against the home side to dismiss the rest of the top order and Middlewich soon crumbled to a lowly 122 all out in the 46th over.

First change bowler Tatters bowled exceptionally tight to claim an impressive return of 7-44 off 16.3 overs. Knowing how important a good start is in defending a low total, openers Hallam and Price plugged away on bowling tight lines.

Both openers claimed a wicket for their efforts but it wasn't until the introduction of Phil Davies that the game began to swing in the favour of the home side.

His left arm spin was invaluable to keeping the chase in check.

As has been the case in most weeks, finding a bowling partner for Davies to bowl in tandem with has been difficult.

Runs were conceded far too easily from one end and despite Davies bowling for 21 overs and only going for 33 runs - in which he collected three wickets - Congleton eased past their target of 122 for the loss of five wickets with slightly more than two overs left.

Middlewich left with a disappointing haul of seven points, with Congleton being awarded 20 points.

With only three games left in the season, Middlewich need to win at least two of them to secure safety.