It is hard to believe, but Darley has missed a place in the Ballarat Cricket Association finals.
The Lions were top of the ladder going into the final round of the season, but a run of unfortunate events knocked the club back to fifth place, then out of the premiership race.
The first thing to hurt Darley was going down to Golden Point.
After being bowled out for 132 on day one of the contest, Darley returned to Eastern Oval on Saturday in search of quick wickets.
The Lions got what they were after on the back of two brilliant spells from Heath Pritchard and Matthew Cape.
The duo bowled for most of the afternoon and had Golden Point in all sorts of trouble at 8-102. However, a ninth wicket partnership between Andrew Warrick and Peter Appleton turned the match.
The pair added a match-winning 39 to hand Golden Point the victory and subsequently, top spot on the BCA’s A-grade ladder.
Despite the loss, Darley was still in a strong position to make finals.
It either needed Brown Hill or Mt Clear to lose, or Wendouree to not win outright.
However, disaster struck and all three outcomes went against the Lions. Brown Hill smashed 330 against East Ballarat for a big win.
Mt Clear, a side Darley beat just one round earlier, easily accounted for Napoleons/Sebastopol, and Wendouree outplayed Ballarat/Redan to secure an outright win.
To make matters worse, the Lions have beaten all finals bound sides except for Golden Point during the home and away season.
The A-grade finals series will now pit Golden Point against Wendouree while Brown Hill will host Mt Clear.
