BARRY Stephens said he was proud of how Braintree Cricket Club's players converted a position of dominance into a strong victory at Kelvedon and Feering to maintain the pressure at the top of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division two table.

Braintree stayed fourth in the standings with a six-wicket win at Rye Mill Lane and Stephens, who was in charge in the absence of regular captain Dan Garner, was pleased with the ruthless way that they dispatched their local rival.

He said:"It was a nice positive performance - I was proud of the team and how we dominated from start to finish.

"They got themselves to 75 for two and they could have got away from us at that stage, but they didn't and that was down to us being patient and staying in there.

"Once we got the opportunity to put a foot on the throat we didn't let them get away.

"We're always looking to improve, though, and I felt we lost two or three too many wickets in our chase, but we want to be positive and with that comes the risk.

"However, by being positive we chased down Kelvedon's score inside 22 overs."

It was vice-captain Stephens who starred with the ball as his spin bowling claimed figures of five for 22 and with Louis Cant taking three for 44, Kelvedon were skittled out for just 148.

Warren Celiz then continued his superb form with the bat as an innings of 69 helped Braintree race to victory and Stephens was quick to praise the opener's performance once again as his batting average now stands at more than 57 in the league this season.

Stephens added: "We are growing in confidence and maturity and we have people who are in great form.

"Warren is playing amazingly well and I'd never tell him to bat any other way - that would be ridiculous.

"When he's playing like that, the opposition are behind the eight ball from the start.

"We are growing as a team and it is all about us now pushing on from here and making a statement to the rest of the league."

The next opportunity for Braintree to do that will come on Saturday when they host Little Bardfield Village at Panfield Lane.

Stephens said Garner was expected to still be unavailable, as was Will Jackson, who scored an unbeaten 41 in Braintree's run chase at Kelvedon last weekend, but the experienced David Hale was set to come into the side.