NOT even top spot on the ladder moving into the last round of the home and away season could save Darley tumbling from the finals race.
The Lions, still hunting their maiden Ballarat Cricket Association firsts premiership, were sent packing from the top four after things went awfully wrong on Saturday afternoon.
When Wendouree secured outright points against Ballarat-Redan, the Red Caps jumped from fifth to fourth and ousted Darley from the semi-finals.
The Lions had earlier suffered a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Golden Point, which recovered from serious trouble to clinch the result and a second-straight minor premiership.
Given the ladder standings and position of the round 13 fixtures moving into the second day of play, it was no surprise what took place, but that's no consolation for the Darley boys, which finish the campaign in fifth spot on the table.
Brown Hill beat East Ballarat to claim second position, while Mt Clear was too strong for Napoleons-Sebastopol and moved to third.
The other match of the round saw North Ballarat snare a surprise outright victory over Coronet City.
Next weekend's semi-finals will see Golden Point take on Wendouree and the Bulls clash with the Mounties in a rematch of the 2013-14 grand final.
ROUND 13 RESULTS
Golden Point 145 d Darley 132
Wendouree 2-176 and 1-102 d Ballarat-Redan 162 and 112
Brown Hill 330 d East Ballarat 256
Napoleons-Sebastopol 69 and 4-121 lost to Mt Clear 8-104dec
Coronet City 53 and 199 lost to North Ballarat 216 and 2-38
LADDER
Golden Point 56 points
Brown Hill 56
Mt Clear 55
Wendouree 53
Darley 52
Ballarat-Redan 34
Napoleons-Sebastopol 26
East Ballarat 24
North Ballarat 20
Coronet City 2
