MISTLEY Cricket Club captain Dan Goff says he and his team-mates have to stand up and be counted heading into tomorrow's "must-win" showdown against Witham.

The Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship fixture sees two out-of-form sides going head-to-head, with Witham having lost their last four and the Swans defeated in four of their last five - most recently Saturday's 42-run defeat at Wivenhoe.

Goff's men are third from bottom and facing a tense run-in as they battle to preserve their first division status.

"Senior players like myself have to stand up and be counted," said the Swans skipper.

"We have to look at ourselves and raise our game.

"Personally, I've given my wicket away cheaply a few times now and that upsets me.

"With the ability I believe I've got, I should be making big scores but instead I'm getting myself out.

"As a team, we have to improve and start winning matches, if we're going to avoid relegation and stay in division one.

"That's so important for the club and in order to stay up, we need to target seven wins from our last 11 matches.

"It's a big ask but achievable - and I'd say the first of those fixtures is tomorrow's must-win contest against Witham.

"They're on a bad run themselves and we have our full-strength side out, so it's time to show what we're capable of."

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Wivenhoe made 246 for six from their 50 overs.

Jimmy Goff kept them in check with three wickets, at the expense of 42 runs in ten overs, and there were also wickets for Dan Goff, Tim Scott and Phil Palmer.

In reply, Sizwe Masondo made 51 and shared partnerships of 41 with Josh Jackson and 40 with Jimmy Goff.

Second-team captain Gareth Stevens contributed 44 and Daniel Goff 38 but Mistley finished on 204 for eight and took eight points, compared to Wivenhoe's 19.

"We had five key players missing," said frustrated skipper Dan Goff, who was without the likes of batsmen Graeme Butcher and James Scott and all-rounder Stuart Dove.

"With our full-strength side available, we would have won comfortably but while clearly not ideal, it's certainly not an excuse.

"We fielded and bowled well until the last ten overs, when we allowed them to add another 20 to 30 runs.

"There's a big difference between chasing 220 and nearly 250.

"Then we made a great start with the bat and were 71 for no loss (Dan Goff shared a partnership with Stevens) but things crumbled after that."

Mistley's second team were in division three action at home to Abberton and District and lost by 83 runs.

Chasing 245 for victory, they were all out for 161.

In division nine east, Mistley lost by two wickets at home to Woodbridge and Old Woodbridgians.

Opener Robert Collett scored 100 and put on 162 for the third wicket with Ciaran Johnston, who scored 78.

Mistley reached 235 but were not able to defend their score as Woodbridge reached the total with just five balls to spare.

Young bowler Harry Fifield took three wickets for Mistley, from the top four batsmen, for 50 runs from his ten overs.