AARON Lucas is confident Old Southendian & Southchurch will bounce back from their first Shepherd Neame Essex League Division Three defeat of the season tomorrow.

The Old Boys head to Epping still smarting after losing by 23 runs to Basildon & Pitsea at Southchurch Park.

Southendian are still top of the table and Lucas knows his team were let down by their bowling and fielding against Basildon.

"Key bowlers did not do as well as they have been but I'm sure we will get back on track tomorrow against Epping," said Lucas, whose side face opposition third from bottom in the table.

"I'm not getting too disappointed and am confident that we can get back to winning ways at Epping.

"The guys were all disappointed last week but we still picked up seven points. Our bowling and our fielding let us down and it was just one of those days."

Basildon welcome Benfleet to Mopsies Park for their derby buoyed by the win over the old Boys which lifted them to third in the table and halted a run of two defeats.

Captain Michael Gray said it was an important victory as Southendian was the first of three games against sides who were above Basildon in the table.

He wants another win tomorrow heading into the match against second-placed Oakfield Parkonians the following week.

"Our derby matches against Benfleet are always a tough game but hopefully we will get a bit of consistency and get another win," said Gray.

"Our bowling and fielding still needs a lot of improvement but beating the leaders shows what we're capable of."

Benfleet bowled and fielded well last weekend but suffered a batting performance captain Gareth Steed branded "shambolic" as they lost by 55 runs to Westcliff.

"Hopefully we can bounce back against Basildon and people will take a bit more responsibility when they are batting," said Steed, whose team are seventh.

"We spoke about it afterwards and I think everyone has been made quite aware that it can't happen again.

"The boys are committed to playing and want to get better; they just have to go through these experiences and learn from them. It is onwards and upwards."

Westcliff are a place above Benfleet in the standings and captain Chris Gladwin is pleased with the progress his young side is making.

" Availabilities means the side is unbalanced at times but we are getting there and it was a tremendous win last weekend," Gladwin said ahead of their home clash with Oakfield Parkonians.

The skipper said his side batted "appallingly" against Benfleet and he might change the batting order to add a bit of pressure on his players.

But he admitted: "We will go out all guns blazing and have a full unit for the game against Oakfield Parkonians.

"They are above us in the league but we will be trying our hardest to win. Last Saturday proved anything can happen."