21-0 in the final ( but probe puts cup in doubt.

Byline: By Alan Hedley

The Durham Senior Cup was plunged into yet more controversy last night.

Held over from last season because of the pressure from the County Championship and League games, the final was played last night at Durham City and it looked like Darlington had lifted the trophy with a 21-0 victory.

But there was no cup presentation afterwards with a question mark over the eligibility of Darlington No8 Alan Brown, who scored one of Darlington's three tries.

Brown captained Stockton in the Cup against Westoe in the early stages of the competition last season.

That would seem to make him ineligible to play in last night's final.

The former Durham County player moved from Stockton to Darlington in the close season but the view might be that last night's final falls within last season's competition regulations which would seem to make Brown ineligible.

The Durham County Committee held an emergency meeting during last night's final and decided not to award the cup with a view to investigating the matter further.

If Brown is ruled ineligible the cup could well be awarded to Westoe who, frankly, were never in the hunt last night. Two tries in first-half injury time, both of them close range efforts, from Michael Taylor an Brown plus two second half penalties from Ben Snook underlined Darlington's dominance.

And then late in the second half Richard Snowball raced in for their third try in a match which must be one of the longest finals on record with 52 minutes played in the first half due to injuries.