BARNT Green skipper Dougie Brown has urged his players not to let the season slip away as they enter the second half of the Birmingham League Premier Division campaign.

The Cherry Hill Road side are sixth in the table and 55 points behind leaders Walsall and while a return to form could see them reel in the Black Country side, any inconsistency would see them quickly out of the title running.

With that in mind, Brown wants his players to step up for a crucial weekend, when they entertain bottom side Wellington in the league on Saturday (noon start), before a trip to Essex the following day to tackle Brentwood in the fifth round of the Kingfisher Beer National Knockout Cup (1pm start).

“I’ve always said that it’s not how you start the season but how you end it,” he commented.

“This is the time of the year when players have to step up and be at their best.

“At the moment we’re just not quite right in little areas and it’s costing us but they can be addressed and fixed.”

Green will be aiming to bounce back from Saturday’s six wicket loss to in-form Himley on Saturday.

After losing the toss and being put into bat at Himley, the away side slumped to 0-2 and did well to fight back and make 136-7 on a soggy bowler friendly service. Tom Burton (24) and Richard Wilkinson (41) got amongst the runs.

But Greg Wright hit 50 not out as the home side made 137-4 in reply, with Nicholas Powell taking two wickets.

Brown said: “We did well to get the score we did but our bowling wasn’t quite at its best.

“We recovered well from our bad start with the bat but in contrast Himley made 24-0 and that was the difference.”