DAN Cox says struggling Old Hill are not even contemplating the threat of relegation.

Last Saturday’s crushing 88-run home defeat to Moseley has pushed the Haden Hill side further into the mire at the foot of Birmingham League Division One.

With eight games to go the spectre of relegation is growing ever larger but Cox, who is experiencing a baptism of fire in his first season as skipper, says the pressure is not getting to the players ahead of Saturday’s trip to Bromsgrove.

He said: “To be honest we are still focusing on one game at a time. I know we are in the position we are but we are not thinking about relegation.

“We are solely focused on getting a positive result. There are still 192 points to play for and by no means is this over.

“We must concentrate on playing positive cricket. I believe our players are good enough.”

Cox opted to bowl on Saturday after winning the toss but they could not prevent the visitors racking up 240-6 from their 55 overs, Abdul Hafeez top scoring with 66 not out.

Their assault on the target was not helped by the early losses of Mike Hingley (4) and Cox (8) and they never got the solid partnership needed.

A late blast of 47 by Arsalaan Mahmood helped Old Hill to a total of 152 all out.

The past three seasons have seen the club challenge for promotion to the Premier League and relegation would be almost unthinkable. He said: “We knew this year wouldn’t be easy. We knew it would be a case of scrapping through.

“It was always going to be a case of getting as many points as possible and staying in the division.”

Halesowen suffered a setback in their bid for promotion from Division Two as they suffered an agonising one-wicket home defeat to Barnards Green.

Batting first, the hosts were bowled out for 188. Hassan Quami top scored with 48, while there were also solid contributions from Charles Tromans (30) and Asif Khan (22).

Phil Harris took 3-56 for the visitors and he proved to be the hero of the bat, striking an unbeaten 89 to anchor the innings and help his side scrape home thanks to a final partnership with number 11 with Thomas Poole (9no). The next highest score was 22 from Adam Dovey as Halesowen’s Phil Croft took 4-44.

Halesowen remain fifth in the table and host Fordhouses this Saturday.