GOATACRE wicketkeeper Sam Parish stressed that there’s no reason for the club to be worried by their indifferent start to the 2014 WEPL Premier Two campaign.

Goatacre lost for the second time in three matches at Thornbury on Saturday, as they meandered to 182 all out before seeing their hosts sneak home by three wickets with four overs to spare.

In the embryonic league table the Goats are just above the relegation zone but Parish is not concerned, saying: “We could be sat here talking about three losses or we could be talking about two wins. There’s certainly no cause for concern or anything like that, having lost two out of the first three.

“This is the third year we’ve been in it and we know this is a competitive league and there are very rarely any sides who finish bottom by miles or who win it by miles.

“We’re all there or thereabouts in this league.”

Parish praised the batting of Jack Haines and Ed Kilbee at the top of the order but, following the latter’s dismissal, Goatacre went from 60-0 to 182 all out.

“We got off to a reasonable start and we haven’t kicked on. Jack batted superbly again, Ed Kilbee looked in better nick than he has done and was unfortunate the bowler’s held a one-handed, diving catch,” said Parish, who lamented Lady Luck’s apparent favouring of the opposition.

“We bowled quite well and we thought we didn’t get a great deal of luck on the day, in terms of not seeming to chip the ball into spaces when we were batting.

“In a tight game one wicket or a couple of wickets can completely changed it.

“One of their guys, who got 20 or 30 and helped them along, hit one that went about 10 yards behind Gibbo at mid-off and there was another one that dropped just short of Jack at deep cover.

“If they’d have been five or 10 yards the other way we’d have got two wickets in two overs and we’d have been in charge of the game.”