A tense fourth day saw Durham lose out on the win by two wickets with just four balls remaining after a spirited performance in the field.
Day four eventually began at 2.55pm with 44 overs for either Durham to claim nine wickets or the visitors to score 144 runs.
Graham Onions made his mark early in the innings, bowling Steven Moore on 28 within the first five overs .
Lancashire were 63-2 after Onions bowled Paul Horton on 28. The seamer then went on to claim his third victim of the innings, Karl Brown, who was trapped lbw on 41.
Tea was taken and it wasn’t long before Onions struck again, this time it was Scott Borthwick who help onto the catch, dismissing Steven Croft on 7 with Lancashire still requiring 102 from the remaining overs.
Lancashire were 156-5 after Luke Procter was caught off Jamie Harrison for 15.
Just three runs were added to the total as the Durham attack piled on the pressure to have Ashwell Prince caught by Gordon Muchall off Harrison for 51.
Onions claimed his five-fer as he trapped Gareth Cross lbw on 3 with Durham reducing
Lancashire to 161-7 with less than eight overs remaining of the match and the hosts requiring 39 to steal a win.
A career best from Onions was achieved as he had Chapple caught behind on 3 as the game moved into the final few tense overs, with either side in with a chance of victory.
Lancashire went on to win by two wickets with four balls to spare in a tense end to the match.
Durham were, however, deducted four points for a slow over rate.
At the close of play Durhamccc.co.uk spoke to Head Coach Geoff Cook, “Both sides deserved to win really, it was one of those matches, from 102 all out in the first innings we played some really, really good cricket from then on in.
“Two individuals, Stokes and Onions, were outstanding and I thought the resolve of the team, even when we had a deficit of nearly 70 was fantastic. We had a chance today but ultimately things didn’t go our way. Everybody is very disappointed but we just have to roll up our sleeves and come back strong next time.
”I’m disappointed for the spectators that come and support us, we’ve had great crowds for four day cricket and its disappointing for the players to be struggling to win matches.”