Mark Robinson admits Sussex cannot shy away from tough decisions as they bid to regain their top-fight County Championship status.

He concedes they should have shown more fight when the going got tough midway through a season which started so brightly.

But, if there was one big factor the Sussex boss will hope to change next summer, it is luck with injuries.

Because he will forever argue they had no luck at all on that front during a campaign which ended in relegation.

Sussex did not go down because they lost to runaway champions Yorkshire yesterday.

But their final defeat by 100 runs as they were bowled out for 208 trying to bat all day offered one last reminder of their injury woes.

As Fidel Edwards bowled Hampshire towards their precious eight-wicket win over Notts, Sussex were missing seamers Ollie Robinson, Ajmal Shahzad, Tymal Mills and Jimmy Anyon at Headingley.

Robinson told The Argus: “The table never lies, you take that on the chin. There are certain things in the middle of the season where we got ourselves in a poor state and we weren’t coping very well.

“The punches were coming too thick and fast and we got affected by that. We’ve got to make sure we are stronger next time.

“But you can’t get away from the amount of injuries we had to bowlers, “It took its toll and there are not many teams who would be able to cope with five seamers being out almost all the summer, especially in a year where wickets have been bowler friendly.”

He said of the mid-term slump: “When you are losing games and you are under-strength there is nothing more tiring and more demoralising.

“We got a little bit sorry for ourselves at one point and didn’t show the necessary fight at times that you want to expect.

“But we rallied, we played some good cricket in the last month but it’s very difficult when, in every game, you are going in a little bit under-manned.”

Robinson could now come under fire from some members and supporters after a poor summer.

Asked last night what his future held, he told The Argus: “You look at everything but it’s not the time now.

“I’m proud of my time and my record at the club and we have been hit badly by injuries.

“We will look to see what we need to do to make things stronger.

“If there are changes to make, you can’t be shy about making them.”

Sussex appeared to be on the brink of safety at one stage on Thursday.

Robinson said: “When you are in amongst it you are always fearing the worst and hoping for the best.

“We had to rely on ourselves. We could not rely on Notts or the weather, We had to try and combat Yorkshire on the last day and we weren’t good enough to do it in the end.

“At one point Hampshire had collapsed and you are wanting Notts to knock them over.

“You want Stuart Broad to fire through them like he did for England. But that’s you relying on other people.

“We always knew coming here it was not going to be a high-scoring game. There weren’t going to be many batting bonus points on offer.

“For large parts of the game we did well but we came up short when it really mattered on the last day.”