PROMOTION hopefuls Westcliff on Sea head to Pegasus & Corringham on Saturday knowing their fate this season is in their hands.

Peter Barnes’ side are third in the Shepheard Neame Essex League Division Three table behind leaders West Essex and Old Parkonians after their one-run defeat to West Essex.

Westcliff have been plotting an immediate return to Division Two all season following relegation last year and Barnes is hoping for a return to winning ways.

“It was gutting not to have got the win last Saturday but it’s still really tight in the league,” he said. “We must concentrate on winning our games. “It is down to us if we do not go up. We cannot rely on anyone else because everyone in that group could go up.”

Barnes believes getting Pegs’ opening batsman Robert Hutcherson out early will be vital to his team’s chances of victory.

But Graham Cox, who took six wickets in the defeat to West Essex, will not be taking Hutcherson’s scalp.

He is getting married tomorrow and is not available for Saturday’s match, while Will Osborne is probably out for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury sustained playing badminton.