ONLY WAY UP IS ESSEX

Essex Pirates coach Tim Lewis believes his side is edging ever closer to picking up a first win of an ignominious campaign.

The Southend outfit came up agonizingly short last weekend, blowing a late lead against Plymouth before losing 92-88.

It leaves the Pirates with an 0-21 record this term, far off the pace even of their debut BBL campaign last year when the newcomers ended up second bottom.

And Lewis concedes his frustration that chances to break their duck keep slipping by.

“We played really well (against Plymouth) and led for almost all of the game, so to lose it down the stretch was very frustrating,” he said.

“We lost a bit of composure and showed our inexperience, but we were the better team and played the better basketball – it’s just one of those things.

“We’re still missing a couple of bits of the puzzle, we could do with a couple of big men but we’ll continue to move forward and get better.

It doesn’t get any simpler for Essex this week who host Newcastle on Saturday before visiting Cheshire 24 hours later.

Long odds, long shot. However Pirates forward Walid Mumuni believes his side can learn from their narrow miss against the Raiders.

“We had a great start, and were up for most of the game before letting it go in the last few minutes.

“sWe just struggled to score and defend very well, and by not doing either allowed them to chip away at lead and sneak the win.

“The positive is we showed we can do it, but we haven’t got a star man who can step up to the plate, so we need to be consistent for the whole 40 minutes.”