CAPTAIN Barry Stephens feels Braintree Cricket Club's players need to prize their wickets more highly to make sure they can be a credible force at the top level of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship.

Braintree have fallen out of the division two promotion race in recent weeks and a 28-run defeat at Little Bardfield - their third loss in a row - last weekend means they will finish the campaign third, despite still being in the hunt for the title three weeks ago.

Stephens said the all-round performance was better at Little Bardfield than it had been in a dismal defeat by Kelvedon and Feering the week before, but he still felt Braintree had been the architects of their own demise as wickets had been surrendered too easily and that hampered their chances of chasing down the hosts' total.

He said: "Although we lost, I was more pleased with the all-round performance.

"I thought we bowled, batted and fielded better than we had the week before, but what lets us down was not keeping wickets in hand.

"We are not valuing them enough and too many were given away too easily.

"I was happy to keep Little Bardfield down to 224 as the wicket was fine.

"I had won the toss and although the ball had done a bit early on because it had been a bit wet I was happy chasing 225.

"But we just lost wickets in clumps so that if we lost one then two or three would go down.

"Then at the end, we just didn't have the wickets in hand to really go for it when the run rate was going up.

"It's all about partnerships and that's been a problem for us in recent years - losing wickets in clumps.

"It just can't keep happening.

"We are aware of it as a team and we need to improve if we want to be an established team in division one.

"I feel we need to be more aware of game situations and we have to be adaptable.

"You can't play one way and one way only.

"If you lose a wicket or two, you have to bat accordingly, but in my view we are showing a bit of naivety in only batting one way."

Stephens did have special praise for Dean Bass, who came back into the Braintree side and claimed an impressive five-wicket haul at Little Bardfield.

They now head to already-relegated Copdock for a season's finale, though, and the skipper is looking to finish with a flourish.

"From my point of view, I want us to finish with a good win and on a high," he added.

"I want to see a good win and really show everyone what we can do because we are capable of good things.

"It's just finding the right mindset and getting those partnerships going with both bat and ball.

"We need to win this to finish off what has been a good season despite the disappointing ending that we've had recently.

"Three losses in a row is not good enough as we were top a few weeks ago so we need to finish off with a win."