Sussex coach Mark Robinson has warned his players they cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves as they battle to avoid a second comprehensive defeat to Lancashire in the space of three weeks.

Lancashire won by the opening County Championship game of the season by an innings and 55 runs at Liverpool and Sussex are in danger of suffering an even heavier beating at Hove today.

Sussex lost four wickets as they made their reply to a mammoth total of 590 all out and require another 344 just to avoid the follow on.

Robinson said: “We have got to take it on the chin and stay positive. We’ve got a mountain to climb but we have got to believe we can still get something out of the game.

“We haven’t had much luck so far and we’ll need that if we are to stand a chance. The lucky players are invariably the positive players so we need to stay positive.”

Lancashire piled on 268 for their remaining four wickets in just 63 overs. Sussex will resume on 97-4.

Robinson added: “All we can do is take it ball by ball, over by over. We came from behind at Durham to get the win and we have got 16 wickets remaining to try to salvage a draw from this game.”