HEAVY morning rain deprived Derbyshire of the chance to claim their second LV County Championship home victory of the season.

The final day of the match against Leicestershire was washed out without a ball bowled yesterday to dampen Derbyshire optimism that they could leave themselves a total they were well capable of chasing down to win the match.

But head of cricket John Morris was happy to see his side earn a position where they could challenge for the win and believes Derbyshire have found the four-day form that will bring them victories soon.

If they are to do that, the chances are that win is going to have to come away, with only one of Derbyshire's next six Championship matches being played at the County Ground.

Derbyshire have not won a Championship match on their travels since Morris' first match in charge – against Glamorgan at Cardiff at the end of August 2007 – but that, he says, is not a problem.

"The games we lost away last year – Essex, Middlesex, Leicester – were also games we could have won," he said.

"In four-day cricket, the opportunity to win a game, home or away, basically comes through playing properly through the first two days and that's what we do, so I don't think that's a problem for us.

"Of course we would like to win away and I don't see that as something we are not capable of doing. It's just getting the opportunity in the game to drive it home.

"I don't see a problem with our four-day game.

"We are a stubborn team, we are difficult to beat and if we get a foothold in the game, nine times out of 10 we will come out on top."

Derbyshire go to Northamptonshire next, starting on Tuesday, and Morris is looking for one or more of his players to provide an added touch of quality to put the team in a stronger position.

There were handy performances throughout the match against Leicestershire, with Ian Hunter taking five wickets in the first innings and Garry Park (pictured right) scoring 72, but Morris is asking for more.

"We are getting consistency now but what we are not getting is that big performance that wins you the match – the 7-80 or the 180 not out," he added.

"That's what we've got to try to get better at. We are putting ourselves in winning positions by people being consistent but our performance levels from individuals just has to go up a bit more.

"We did a lot of things right against Leicester and there were other things I thought we could have done better but I thought it was a good three days of cricket and the pity is that it rained on the final day."