Bexhill aim to hit straight back against title hopefuls

Bexhill slumped to a six-wicket reverse at home to Preston Nomads, ending a run of four consecutive wins in completed Sussex Premier League matches.

Haffenden says there would be no better way of hitting back than by winning away to second-placed Horsham today (Saturday).

He said: “It’s a fantastic place to play cricket and we need to prove a point that last week was a little blip.”

Bexhill came back strongly after their previous two league defeats this summer and their only away loss so far was against leaders Roffey.

“We pretty much just need to go back to what we’ve been doing the last few weeks - bat well, bowl well and the fielding should take care of itself,” continued Haffenden.

“After a disappointing week last week, I’ll be very disappointed if that happens again. If we’re ever going to do anything or put up a challenge for anything, character is what we need and we need to show some character this week. If we bounce back and do well, it’s another massive character building exercise for us.”

Despite 62 from Sam Roberts, Bexhill were all out for just 150 having chosen to bat against Nomads.

“Apart from Sam, it was a pretty poor performance,” conceded Haffenden. “90 (runs) from (the other) 10 of us is very average. Maybe another 50 and we would’ve been in the game.

“We were very poor all-round. We bowled both sides (of the wicket) and we dropped catches. It’s more frustrating to be honest because we know what we can produce.

“We’ve put in some top performances. It’s just when we lose, we seem to lose in a terrible fashion and I can’t put my finger on why - it just seems to be that’s the way it happens. Yes we’re young, but we’ve played enough cricket.

“It’s only our third loss of the season so it’s not something we’re going to look to dwell on.”

Bexhill have dropped a couple of places to sixth as a result, but are only three points outside the top four with a game in hand on everyone other than Roffey.

“There’s only 40 points between us and Roffey,” added Haffenden. “I wouldn’t like to say who’s going to win the league. I think everyone down to us has got a chance. We’ve got seven games to go and 210 points is a lot of points to play for.”

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