Once again, bowlers held the upper hand in a game played on a damp wicket.

With Neil Ayre missing the game, Ross Carty was given an opportunity at the top of the batting order, and the left-handed batsman took his chance, scoring 43 runs from 83 balls before he was trapped LBW off the bowling of John Leslie.

Carty found support from Paul Shields (19), Linday Cullen (20), and Andy Turns (22), and the Universal Sealants-sponsored side looked on course for a decent score when they reached 112-2 in the 32nd over.

But, after Carty and Turns fell in quick succession, the other batsmen had no answer to the Harbour's Stuart Lacey.

The off-spinner ran through the middle and late order, finishing with figures of 5-22 from his 15 overs, as the Villagers collapsed to a score of 138.

This left Seaham with 53 overs to chase down a modest target to claim their third win of the season.

However, the Harbour batsmen also found runs difficult to come by, and they lost wickets at regular intervals.

While Neil McKinney was at the wicket, the visitors still looked capable of reaching their target.

However, when he was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Lindsay Cullen for a score of 29, it left the scoreboard showing 88-6, and the momentum swung in favour of Whitburn, in what was proving to be a nail-biting game for the supporters of both sides.

Then, Stuart Lacey briefly looked like following his fine bowling performance with some aggressive batting.

However, after losing partners Simon Western and Michael Rich in successive overs, Lacey and Neville Gustard dug in for the final five overs, to finish 12 runs short, but with two wickets in hand.

Neil Johnson finished with 4-29 from his 15-over spell, and Cullen continued his run of impressive bowling, claiming 3-39 from his 11 overs.