Coach Mark Robinson insists Sussex can take plenty of positives from their first defeat of the season.

Sussex were missing five first-choice players due to illness or injury at Chester-le-Street but still pushed Durham all the way before slipping to a six-wicket defeat yesterday.

Despite the setback Ed Joyce’s men remain top of the division one table – by five points from Durham - having won both their opening games against Hampshire and Worcestershire.

And Robinson says the performances from the likes of Matt Machan and Ollie Robinson who came in due to the absence of Mike Yardy and Tymal Mills offer real cause for optimism.

Robinson scored a century on his first class debut having signed for the rest of the season while Machan top scored in the second innings with 80 to make him the county’s top run scorer despite not being selected for the opening game.

Mark Robinson said: “Obviously you are never happy losing as you want to win every game but I think if you’d offered us two wins from our first three games at the start of the season we’d have taken it.

“You have to take into account that we’re missing some big players too but that has given players like Matt and Ollie to come in and show what they can do. Ollie had a dream debut and Matt has really grabbed his opportunity so they are real positives for us.”

Sussex will discover how long Mills is likely to be sidelined today after he sees a specialist to discover the cause of the back problem which flared up during the victory over Worcestershire last week.

Yardy – who has missed the last two games due to illness - could be back for the next game against Middlesex a week on Sunday but Jimmy Anyon, Lewis Hatchett and Matt Prior are not expected to play for another month at least.