MESSINGHAM made it two in a row as they lifted the Grimsby Town Knockout trophy to become one of the few teams that have won the competition in successive years.

But the Scunthorpe outfit were made to fight all the way by a Nettleham side who have occupied the runners-up slot previously – and whose skipper Russ Binnington would have relished the chance to get his hands on the trophy before he retires from the captaincy at the end of the season.

However, it was not to be as, having been invited to bat by Messingham, the Lincoln side found runs hard to come by.

The first four overs yielded only 15, though, by the half-way stage of the innings, Nettleham had 43 on the board.

By this time, three wickets had gone. Danny Rands opened Messingham's account and Tom Johnson took an excellent catch to give Shaun Dalton his first wicket.

The third was a run out, which brought Rob Cook to the crease and finally gave the crowd of more than 400 the big-hitting entertainment associated with the competition.

Cook and James McKay took the score to 86 before McKay was stumped by Jason Scheepers off Nadeem Ahmed and Cook continued to punish the bowling, making an unbeaten 59 off 31 balls with four sixes and four fours.

This took Nettleham to what still appeared a modest total of 123 for seven but, when Cook took a tremendous slip catch to dismiss Lee Brocklebank off the first ball and Scheepers followed, Nettleham gained fresh momentum.

After eight overs, there was nothing in it, the score having reached 42 for three with Tony Wood contributing 22. But it was in the following four overs that Messingham gained the ascendancy as Andy Langford and Irfan Ahmed opened up, taking the score to 74 before Langford was stumped by Sam Hickingbotham for 35, which he hit off 42 balls with two sixes and one four.

With two overs to go, Messingham needed 17 to win but in that over Ahmed was caught by Carter off James McKay, having hit 37 off 30 balls. By now his brother, Nadeem, was at the crease and, going into the final over, he and Tom Johnson were faced with scoring a run a ball.

However, off the first ball, Ahmed hit a six to ease the pressure.

The next was a single, putting Johnson on strike and the third was a dot ball. Then the fourth delivery hit Johnson's foot and squirted away, the pair ran a leg bye and Messingham had their victory with four balls to spare.

Professor Daniel Khan, of overall Knockout sponsors Grimsby Institute, presented trophies to the umpires, the teams and to the man of the match – Irfan Ahmed.