Sam Tucker admitted that while there was final gloom, Sunday did represent a success for Church Cricket Club.

He and the rest of the players said they felt like they had let everyone down after all the effort the club had put into staging the Worsley Cup final at Blackburn Road against Ramsbottom.

But, with two finals in the last two years, the West End club are going forward and now look to build on their experience.

"Everyone is bitterly disappointed at the result," said the record wicketkeeper, who flew back from working in Dubai to play in the final and almost didn’t play after his foot swelled up on the plane until anti-biotics cleared it up.

"Everyone had put such a lot of time and effort into organising the day and we were desperate to return the favour.

"We tried our best but, in the end, we were comprehensively beaten.

"We knew we had to be at our best as Ramsbottom are a good team and, chasing 170, we knew we needed to get their pro Shanan Stewart out, but it wasn’t to be."

Tucker admitted that Church’s pro Saeed Anwar Junior had taken it badly after getting just five runs while his counterpart shone.

"Saeed was as keen as anyone to win the cup as he knows the history of the club, he knew it was 1974 the last time we won a major trophy and he wanted to deliver some silverware to Church but it just didn’t happen."

Tucker admitted that the preparations didn’t help the home team, with the match starting just under two hours late due to the rain.

"We had got ready to start at 12.30 and obviously, with the delay, we were running out putting the covers on and off, doing our mopping-up duties and I do think that affected our preparation and mindset.

"Ramsbottom could just sit in the dressing room waiting while our mind was on anything but cricket.

"You start worrying about all the food that’s going to go off, the sponsorship tents we would have to pull down if the game didn’t go ahead as our vision of a perfect day had been spoilt.

"But still we can’t have too many complaints as Ramsbottom beat us easily on the day and you have just got to congratulate them. They punished us and showed us how to win a final.

"But we have now been in two finals in two years and there was still plenty to celebrate.

"When we do win a trophy though, it will be the biggest party in town."

DESPITE losing, Church had a successful day money-wise. It could have been much better had the sun been out but still the gate money was around £2,400, which was split three ways.

The club had its highest bar receipts for a day with over £5,000 taken.

It was a similar story with the tea room and barbeque again with record receipts of more than £1,500.

And the match sponsorship/tent sponsors was a huge success with total sponsorship for the match exceeding £4,000.