Coggeshall's youthful second XI cricketers are more than making up for the disappointments currently being experienced by the Hare Field first team.

While the senior team languish at the bottom of the first division without a win so far this season, skipper Matt Blackwell and his second-team boys are proudly leading the way at the top of division five with four straight wins from their eight games - two of which have been void because of rain.

Blackwell is delighted with the form his young team are showing and he takes them into tomorrow's top-two home clash with Copdock and Old Ipswichians filled with confidence of even better things to come.

He said: "If we can beat Copdock it will open up a big gap between the top four clubs and those in the bottom six.

"And after experiencing the disappointment of not winning a single match in the fourth division last year following our promotion as fifth division champions, hopefully it will act as the catalyst that will take us to the division five title and promotion again.

"I became very disheartened by our lack of success in the fourth division last year, but we have come back stronger and are playing very well as a team.

"Some of the team members who didn't play at all last summer have come back to us this year and we are a lot stronger for it.

"A couple of players have recently stepped up into the first team, but we have some good lads coming through good enough to step into their place."

Young Robert Cross is one of Blackwell's squad who has taken his first-team chance well.

Cross top scored with 60 in last week's defeat at the hands of Copdock's senior team, while Adrian Stockton, back in action for the first time in weeks, hit an unbeaten century in the seconds win over Ipswich twos.

The Bragg brothers, Shaun and Carl, are also in fine form.

Shaun, 14, is a promising right-arm medium pace bowler attracting the eyes of Essex, while Carl, 16, is a right-arm spinner who has come on in leaps and bounds in the past two seasons.

Blackwell's off-spinning all-rounder cousin Robert Jagger is also showing up with with 65 runs and five wickets for 45 in a recent encounter.