Leicestershire v Derbyshire day 4

There's a tendency to knee jerk reactions after a reverse among fans of any sports side.

We're no different at Derbyshire and there's a few prophets of doom lining up on 606 tonight with a range of comments.

We don't deserve to go up. If we do manage it we'll come back down. Yadda, yadda, yadda...

C'mon guys, reality check.

At lunch time I was the same as everyone else and thought we were pretty much there, but an hour after lunch it was patently obvious that the track was dead. Bereft of life, it had ceased to be (etc). The galling thing from our perspective is that Jigar Naik had a previous best of 16 from eleven innings. This happens though and every dog has its day.

I remember a cup match a few years ago when a young Sussex batsman with little previous form (and not much subsequently) scored 150 against us to take the game after we'd scored 300. I can't remember the lad's name at this time, but it was a phenomenal innings and if he'd used a hockey stick that day he'd have creamed it to all corners of the ground. We'd Malcolm, Cork and other good bowlers but he was superb. It happens and when it does there's nowt you can do about it.

My mind went back this afternoon to when we were pushing for the title under Dean Jones and could not get the last wickets against Somerset with a much stronger attack than we have now. They all tried their best to no avail and it was heart breaking stuff.

Same today. They all did their level best but there were two things that stopped us winning this match. One was the loss of Graham Wagg, the other was the loss of one and a half sessions to the rain. Had either of those gone our way we'd have won it. I'd qualify it by saying that Leicestershire have a very special player in James Taylor, who I think will be one of the best batsmen of his generation. He's a super little player and I'd love to see him at Derby. Then again, every county would want such a compact player and he will go a long way.

Yet while we're crying in our beer tonight guys, let's remember two things. First of all, we're still very much in the promotion hunt and in second place as things stand. Secondly, when was the last time we were genuinely excited by our season? Second in the Championship, second in the Pro 40. Good times.

It's not over yet by a long chalk. Gloucester have still to play Leicestershire, Middlesex and Glamorgan away and both Surrey and Kent at home.

Essex play Surrey, Glamorgan, Leicestershire and us

Surrey play Essex, Kent, Gloucester, Northants and Glamorgan

We have Northants, Kent and Essex at home and Middlesex away.

If you look at those fixtures, there's massive potential for teams to knock each other out of the race. As someone points out on 606 tonight, we could yet finish sixth, which would be a poor return on a pretty good season. But we could yet finish second.

Disappointed tonight? Yes. Disgusted and downhearted? Not by a long chalk.