WILL Jackson insists the spirit of Braintree Cricket Club's players is stronger than ever to prove that they are a Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship top-flight side.

A seven-wicket defeat by Hadleigh last weekend left Braintree still searching for their first win since returning to division one this year and captain Jackson said they will be pushing hard for that when they host Haverhill on Saturday.

Braintree head into the game sitting bottom of the division, but the skipper said the tough start to the season has not knocked the team's belief that they have what it takes to compete at that level.

"It is still very much there," he said.

"The spirit is there, it hasn't gone anywhere; the players very much want to play division one cricket and if anything, the start we've had is making them want to prove people wrong even more.

"We're certainly not at panic stations.

"It's a long season and there are still 16 games to go.

"We have played some of the tougher teams in the league and it's still so close towards the bottom that one win can move you up quite a way.

"So it's a big game against Haverhill on Saturday now, but we know them well and beat them twice last year in division two so there should be no surprises there."

Jackson, who has been sidelined by a broken wrist recently, was encouraged by the team's batting performance against Hadleigh last weekend as they made it past 200 for the first time this year, however, he still feels individual batsmen need to push on once they are in to be hitting match-winning scores.

He added: "We posted a competitive total, so that was good, with Rory (Ainsley) hitting 44 and Quincy (Titterton) making a quick-fire 45 at the end, but once again, people got in and did not fully capitalise on their positions.

"No-one has got to 50 this year so far.

"Hadleigh had two players who did that and they did capitalise, so went on to win the match.

"We felt we had a couple of key decisions go against us in the field where we felt we had both of those batsmen out but they weren't given, but we can't rely on luck, we just have to make sure we get better."

Jackson said he expected Dan Chalk to be missing for the game against Haverhill, but thought Ben Golds and Barry Stephens would be available again.