COLCHESTER and East Essex chairman Andrew Kennedy admits their 133-run home defeat at the hands of Chelmsford was a setback to their title hopes.

A batting collapse which saw six wickets tumble for the addition of just 21 runs played a big part in the hosts’ disappointing loss, at Castle Park.

Chelmsford had posted 302 for nine in their 50 overs, after choosing to bat first in the Shepherd Neame Essex League premier division encounter.

And despite making a solid start to their reply, Colchester in the end fell well short of their target to fall to defeat against their third-placed opponents.

Kennedy said: “Chelmsford deserved to win and it was a bit of a setback for us.

“We didn’t play as well as we can but Chelmsford weren’t really at their best, either.”

Ollie Bocking was Colchester’s leading wicket-taker last weekend, claiming figures of 3-71 in his ten-over spell.

Kennedy said: “It was a decent wicket and we made a great start, with Ben Stephens getting a wicket first ball.

“But Ben had twisted his ankle in the run-up to the game and was hindered a little bit by that.

“We didn’t bowl as well as we could have done but we still felt we could win.”

Colchester’s reply was encouraging at first, with Joe Austin (44) top-scoring at number three.

But wickets tumbled after that and although Ollie Lovejoy hit an unbeaten 35 batting at number eight, his efforts proved too little, too late.

“When we were 100 for two off 20 overs or so we thought that we were going along quite nicely,” added Kennedy.

“But then there was a big collapse and we losing five or six wickets for around 20 runs in the middle order killed the game for us, although Ollie Lovejoy was unbeaten on 35 at the end.

“He’s not scored as many runs as he’d have liked this year so far, so it was nice for him to get those under his belt, although the game was already lost by then.

“Aaron Beard bowled quite well for them to take five wickets and perhaps that helped him get his England under-19 call-up this week!

“But we were disappointed by our performance in the end.”

There was better news for Colchester’s second, third and fourth teams last weekend.

Colchester beat Chelmsford by 62 runs in the second XI premier division and the club’s third team were also successful, beating Buckhurst Hill by six runs in third XI division one.

Colchester’s fourth team also tasted victory in their inaugural game, beating Oakfield Parkonians in a friendly despite only having nine players.