Bexhill coach has high hopes for rest of term

Bexhill are up to fourth in the Sussex Premier League and within 34 points of the leaders, with a game in hand on two of the teams above them.

Roberts said: “I will go into it with a great sense of hope and expectation. I want us to play a brand of cricket where we come off feeling we’ve given absolutely everything.

“There’s a lot to work with. There’s a lot of good kids, and much of it comes down to a bit of leadership and guidance.”

Bexhill have won all of their last three completed matches, all of which have been at their Polegrove home.

“It’s coincided with an extended run against teams around us or below us in the table,” continued Roberts. “I think we’re in a better position now than we were in the first half of the season. There’s players in form and we’ve set standards we’re not prepared to step down from.

“It’s unlimited (what Bexhill can achieve). I’m confident we can acquit ourselves well. We’re coming into a run of games against teams higher up the league table and we need to start beating, if not all of those teams, then most of them.”

Bexhill captain Johnathan Haffenden, meanwhile, says his team is full of confidence heading into a tough-looking run of fixtures.

In-form Bexhill will face four other clubs in the league’s top six during their next five matches and three of their next four games are away from home.

The first of them today (Saturday) will see Bexhill travel to an East Grinstead side which is one place and three points below them having played an extra match.

Haffenden said: “We’re still in that five-game period that we spoke about, and we’ve won three and had one rain-off with one to play.

“Next week will be a big one, but we’re full of confidence and we’ve set ourselves up nicely. The table looks good for us.

“We’ve got a tough three games coming, but we’re hoping to be at full strength again, and winning’s a habit and we want to carry it on.”

Haffenden says Bexhill are likely to be unchanged as they bid to complete the double over Grinstead.

Bexhill achieved their highest finish since 1997 when coming fourth last year and Haffenden believes it would be an even better feat if they could achieve a similar finish this summer, bearing in mind they no longer enjoy the services of former Sussex professional Ashar Zaidi.

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