BIDDESTONE: KRIS Boulton believes Biddestone must win the close matches if they want to edge towards safety in Gloucester and Wilts One.

The Yatton Road skipper was reflecting on a nine-run defeat to promotion-chasing Lydney on Saturday. Boulton said: "I had a long chat with the Lydney skipper, Paul Morris, about the importance of self-belief when games go right down to the wire.

"Paul said Lydney have got into the habit of winning the close matches and that's why they held their nerve in a difficult situation. "It was same for us in Gloucester and Wilts Two last year and in the Wiltshire League before that. When you get into that winning habit you always believe you are going to win, even it's only by a single run."

Chasing a gettable 197 for victory, Biddestone lost 15-year-old Martin Sawyer in the second over as the Lydney seamers gained control.

South African Clint Bowyer continued his impressive run of form with a quick-fire 44 before he was bowled by Tony Scott.

Doug Miller (20), vice-captain Jon Mason (21) and Tom Needham (11) all made promising starts but failed to capitalise as the Lydney bowlers fought back. Boulton's season-long search for some form came to a timely end as the captain scored at a run-a-ball to post a valuable 36.

James Taylor (10) and Hywel Evans (12) took the fight to Lydney as the visitors retreated to the boundary to protect their total. With just two overs remaining, Biddestone needed just 10 runs to win when last man Mark Unwin was clean bowled for a duck, handing Lydney a thrilling victory.

Earlier, Jonathon Kear (78) and Will Jones (66 no out) held the innings together for Lydney after the visitors had slumped to 31-4.

Gareth Unwin (three for 45) was the chief wicket-taker and there were two wickets for James Taylor in Lydney's total of 196-6. After a few days of reflection, Boulton concluded there were plenty of positives from the game.

He said: "For once we did not rely on either Clint Bowyer or Dwaine Perry to score all the runs. "I thought it was a good effort from our batsmen and it was bitterly disappointing to come up short. At one stage we needed eight per over but we were up with the rate.

"I'm hoping to have some consistency in team selection over the next few weeks. The availability of some players has been disappointing but hopefully that will change.

"The bottom two sides play each other at the weekend so if we can win our match at Gloucester it will put some distance between ourselves and whoever loses that one."