THE task for wounded Ockbrook & Borrowash tomorrow is to prove that they are still in the driving seat for the Beechwood Derbyshire Premier League title.

Ockbrook go into their game at home to Alvaston & Boulton having gone a month without winning in the league – during which time, a 50-point lead has been whittled down to only 21 by perennial rivals Sandiacre Town.

And last Saturday, they lost their unbeaten league record, going down at home to Ilkeston Rutland by four wickets.

Now captain Neil Smith hopes they can use that result as a wake-up call for a successful run-in to the end of the season.

In fact, they boosted themselves the following day, by beating Ilkeston in the Premier Cup semi-final on the same ground.

"Obviously, we were gutted to have lost against Ilkeston on Saturday," said Smith.

"Our batting was poor and 175 was never going to be enough.

"The pitch was actually pretty decent as well. We got off to a really slow start and we never really recovered.

"Ultimately, we have no complaints.

"I'm a firm believer that you get what you deserve and Ilkeston played a lot better than us."

But Smith points out that the lead they now have is still a good one.

"Our lead is down to 21 points but, to be honest, I'd have taken that at the start of the season.

"As long as we are at least one point in front at the end of the season, that will do us fine.

"August hasn't been a brilliant month for us to this point, although our performance against Ilkeston in the cup on Sunday was excellent.

"If we can replicate that performance over the next few weeks, then we'll be OK.

"We were definiteley stung by last week's defeat but in a funny sort of way, it could prove to be for the best.

"It has given us a kick up the backside and we're determind to ensure we get back to our best tomorrow."

One reason that Ockbrook have not reached their early-season heights this month has been that Matt Lineker has been unable to continue with the scintillating form that carried him to the top of the league's Player of the Year rankings in the first few weeks.

But Smith is backing Lineker to turn his form around and revealed that former Derbyshire coach David Houghton has been called in to help at Ockbrook.

"Matt has not scored as many runs in recent weeks but he is a quality player and he has the bit between his teeth for this weekend," said Smith.

"I'd much rather have him in our team than have to play against him.

"We had Dave Houghton down working with some of our batters on Wednesday night and, hopefully, that will pay dividends for us..

"I'm in no doubt the chasing pack will have been boosted by our defeat last week but we have the points in the bag and I don't believe we'll let ourseleves play as badly again as we did last Saturday.

"We have both Spondon and Sandiacre to play so it's definiteley still in our hands."