DURHAM coach Martyn Moxon will be emphasising that there can be no lapses in concentration following the 128-run defeat by Lancashire at Riverside.

Skipper Dale Benkenstein led a determined rearguard with an innings of 88 on Saturday, but it came too late after the mistakes of the first two days.

England one-day bowler Sajid Mahmood broke Durham's resistance in the final session, hurrying one on to Benkenstein to have him lbw for 88 and from 228 for six at tea Durham were all out for 272.

It could have been a very tight contest had Durham not dropped five slip catches in Lancashire's first innings, and Moxon said: "We have to make sure we are switched on for every ball.

"That goes for batting as well.

They have to concentrate just as hard on 20 or 30 as on nought, and it was disappointing that all our top six got a good start in the first innings, but only Gordon Muchall went on.

"We don't want to harp on about the slip catching otherwise they'll get too tense. We don't really have the option of changing the personnel in that area, so they just have to make sure they are concentrating 100 per cent every ball.

"In this division the teams who make the fewest mistakes will come out on top, and that's what happened in this match.

"We also felt we were on the rough end of some decisions, but hopefully over the season they will balance themselves out."

Welshman Jeff Evans, who gave three poor decisions against Durham, kept his finger down on Saturday when Glen Chapple's lbw appeals against Jimmy Maher on 43 and Benkenstein on four looked far better than Mahmood's shout which brought Jon Lewis's exit the previous evening.

That was the only scare for Benkenstein, who played impeccably until he was pinned by Mahmood in the fourth over after tea, and there could be no complaints about this decision.

Prolonged resistance is not Ottis Gibson's forte and in Mahmood's next over he drove to mid-off, then at 259 for eight Chapple took the new ball and knocked out Graham Onions' off stump with his third ball.

It gave Chapple a four-wicket haul in both innings, but Mahmood wrapped up the victory when a yorker length ball had Callum Thorp lbw.

Thorp didn't appear to like this decision, but as he and Neil Killeen still had an hour to survive it probably didn't affect the result.

Durham began the final day on 30 for two, 370 behind, but on a sound pitch they lost only one wicket in the morning session.

That came towards the end of a testing ten-over opening spell from Chapple, who looked particularly threatening when he went round the wicket to the left-hand pair of Maher and Gary Pratt.

The switch brought the wicket of Pratt, who survived 57 balls for 20 before being deceived by a slower one which swung in and yorked him. It was a fine piece of bowling.

Maher dug in doggedly either side of taking three fours in an over off Tom Smith, two clipped to the leg side and one straight driven.

Smith was required to bowl into the chilly wind before making way for Dominic Cork, who didn't bowl in the first innings after twisting his ankle while batting.

There was also a question over the fitness of Gary Keedy, but he defied an injured spinning finger to have Maher taken off bat and pad at silly point for 63 in the third over after lunch.

The Queenslander faced 147 balls and hit ten fours, but had his concentration disturbed on 58 when he pushed a leg-side single off Mahmood and the handle came away from his bat.

Benkenstein then put on 66 with Gareth Breese, who withstood some fiery stuff - and some verbals - from Cork bowling downwind, but when Chapple returned his first ball had Breese caught at the wicket for 33.

Four overs later Chapple also had Phil Mustard caught by Luke Sutton, but Benkenstein twice swept Keedy for four and also cut him to the boundary in the same over to reach 80 at tea.

The end was swift following the South African's exit, but the top two sides in last season's second division had produced an absorbing four-day contest.

During their first decade in firstclass cricket the sort of situation Durham faced at the start of the day invariably brought a swift demise, but the steel which underpinned last season's promotion was again evident and the batsmen will also take heart from the improved pitches.