Last Sunday the players had the chance to thank their wives and girlfriends for putting up with them throughout the season.

It was a team meal at the Rendezvous Casino on Brighton Marina.

Loved ones have to go through a lot during the summer with players often away from home for days at a time so it was a nice opportunity to treat the girls to a night out and a good time was had by all.

The theme was James Bond and after the two disappointing Championship results we have had in the last week I am now wishing we had 007 opening the batting and bowling for us at the moment.

Instead of finishing the season with a flourish after beating champions-elect Surrey three weeks ago, we find ourselves needing a couple of solid performances in the last two games against Hampshire and Warwickshire to make sure we do not lose our First Division status.

I don't think the week long break we had after that great win over Surrey helped us because we lost the momentum we had but, in the last two matches, the players have seemed more worried about the overall outcome, which is obviously to stay in the First Division, rather than concentrating on producing the solid individual displays which have characterised so much of our play in the first two-thirds of the season.

We have always had a strong performance culture at the club and I am confident we can rediscover it in time for those last two matches.

I do not want to take anything away from either Lancashire or Leicestershire who have out-performed us in both games.

Batting-wise we are not getting the good starts which seemed to be the norm last season from Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin and if we lose early wickets we have suddenly found it hard to stop the slide.

We have fallen into the trap of trying to play too many big shots too early, of being hell-bent on playing aggressive shots.

Bowling-wise we have been outgunned in both games. I thought Glen Chapple's second innings performance for Lancashire a week ago was outstanding and Leicestershire's three main seamers, Srinath, DeFreitas and Malcolm got the most out of a bowler-friendly pitch up at Grace Road this week.

They say there is no substitute for experience and those guys have proved it. I am good mates with Devon from our Derbyshire days. I just wish he had remembered that when he was taking 14 of his 51 wickets against us this season.

So there is still work to be done, starting against Hampshire on Thursday. They are in big relegation trouble and will come out fighting because it is their last chance to save themselves.

Perhaps roles will be reversed and they will concentrate on the outcome and we can put our mind to staying focussed on doing our bit for the team.

If we do that in the last two games then I am very confident that the hard work we have put in throughout the season will ensure that we retain our place in Division One.

Before then we have two National League games. As you may know, we have dropped Richard Montgomerie, Tony Cottey and Matt Prior from the squad to enable us to give Jamie Carpenter, Bas Zuiderent and Carl Hopkinson, all of whom have been playing well for the second team recently, an extended run.

Monty, Cotts and Matt need to go away, work on their game and come back on Thursday in the right frame of mind for the Championship matches and I am sure they will. Our National League form this season has been poor, there is no getting away from that fact.

We have chopped and changed to try and find a winning blend but it has not worked so this is an opportunity to reinvigorate the team with fresh faces eager to prove a point in the last four games.