WILL Jackson insists that Braintree Cricket Club’s players will keep looking forward rather than dwelling on another derby day defeat as they look to regain the winning formula in the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship.

A seven-wicket defeat by old foes Witham - the fourth in a row since they came up into the top-flight - left Braintree 23 points adrift at the foot of the division one table, but skipper Jackson said confidence in the team remains high that they can get themselves to safety.

He said he expected a strong team to be fielded for the home game against another local side - Halstead - today and feels everyone will be focused on that rather than licking wounds over the mauling they received from Witham.

“We have to put it behind ourselves,” he said.

“It’s firmly in the past now and our focus is on Halstead.

“We are at home, where we have had a bit more joy and we are focused on beating them.

“There is no team that we fear - it just hasn’t clicked for us this season and we haven’t been blessed by being able to field a full strength team.

“However, I expect us to have Josh Newman, Geoff Eveling and Robbie Spalding back this week and that will bolster out tail-end batting and give us three more bowling options.

“If that’s the case, then it would probably be one of the strongest teams that we would put out this season.

“I know Halstead are on a bit of a poor run and we will go out with the intention of kick-starting the second half of our season.

“Winning is a habit as well as losing and when we’ve been successful in the past, it has been when we’ve found ways to win when the going is tough.

“We just haven’t had the clinical edge this year to get home, which has been hard to put the finger on, but the core of the team is there and the belief is still there that we can get ourselves up the table.”