BLAYDON will not be entering next season's Durham Senior Cup, which might not take place at all after the final was scrapped yet again.

The Crow Trees club were fuming when Darlington Mowden Park were unable to fulfil last night's fixture because they did not have a replacement prop.

Mowden secretary Kevin Robinson said: "It was a traumatic day on Monday. The county gave us until 9pm to find someone and we did everything we could. We spoke to agents, but when people realised the strength of the opposition they weren't keen."

Robinson, who is the county team secretary, said: "Being involved with the county I'm keen to see the cup continue, but everything seems to conspire against it and the final always seems to get lost at the end of the season.

"We were in the final last season but Westoe cried off. Then we tried for a month to get the semi-final played against them this year, but they withdrew because their priority was to try to avoid relegation.

"We can only apologise. It's a shame the final isn't going to happen, but it could have become a farce if we had a prop injured. You can go to uncontested scrums, but in that event the rules say you can't put another player on."

Blaydon were keen to complete an unprecedented clean sweep of all four county cups, and had selected a full-strength side, including the front row which is considered the strongest in National One.

Player-coach Micky Ward, the ex-Newcastle Falcons prop, said he would not be in favour of entering the competition next year.

"We had one game against Billingham in pre-season, and we haven't played a match in the competition since," he said. "We were supposed to be playing Durham City a couple of months ago in the semi-final and we were planning on fielding our second team or even the development side. That is what we did against Billingham in the first round."

Mowden have been short of front row cover since Danny Dixon broke an ankle two months ago. Hooker and captain Junior Fagalilo has also been injured of late.

Dan Miller has played his last game for the club but was prepared to play last night until he suffered an elbow injury on Saturday.

Blaydon secretary Jim Huxley said: "If Mowden are aspiring to come up to National One they will need six props capable of playing at this level. We had people coming from all over to watch the game and would have had our biggest crowd of the season. It's very disappointing."