Hornchurch captain Gordon looking for response
Hornchurch captain Billy Gordon looks on in the field - Credit: Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo
Billy Gordon is looking for a response from his Hornchurch side after their heavy opening-day loss in the Hamro Foundation Essex League Premier Division.
Put into bat at Hadleigh & Thundersley, Hornchurch reached 89-1 as openers Jamie Sorrell (37) and Ronnie Saunders (38) made useful starts.
But they collapsed to 134 all out and saw the hosts race to their target without loss in 24 overs.
Gordon said: "It was not a good toss to lose. There was rain early on and it was doing a bit.
"We got to 89-1 but it was a bit streaky, there was a lot of playing and missing, it was quite difficult, not as easy as the score looks.
"It got flatter as the day went on but we didn't bat very well.
"We were three players short - Muzza [Paul Murray], Sainsy [Chris Sains] and the overseas, and against a good side when you have a bit of a collapse you need that depth in your squad and we didn't have it.
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"Everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong.
"It's always difficult. We won our warm-up games quite convincingly so maybe we were too casual and this is the kick up the backside we needed."
Hornchurch face a tough weekend as they look to bounce back from that disappointment, visiting Wanstead on Saturday and travelling to Sawston & Babraham in the ECB National Club Championship the following day.
Wanstead romped to an eight-wicket win over Belhus in a match that lasted just 27.2 overs last weekend, with Gordon adding: "Wanstead, we have to be on it 100 per cent or we've got no chance.
"It's a good game to have next, if we can perform. We've got the players, you never know.
"We're still waiting on our overseas, his agent reckons he will be here by Saturday. We need him this weekend."
Meanwhile, Sawston & Babraham made it four wins out of four in the East Anglian Premier League, beating Sudbury by 116 runs and Gordon said: "They won the East Anglian Premier last year, so it will be a really tough game on Sunday.
"We need the best side out we can, but we've got a couple out again. Availability is always tough on a Sunday, after playing all day on Saturday.
"But hopefully we can bounce back this weekend."
