COLCHESTER and East Essex chairman Andrew Kennedy is confident that they can return to the top flight at the first time of asking – despite their inconsistent form.

The Castle Park side lie fourth in Shepherd Neame Essex League First XI Division One, heading into their game at Hainault and Clayhall tomorrow.

Colchester were beaten at Gidea Park and Romford last weekend but lie just two points off the promotion places.

And ahead of a repeat of their curtain-raiser against Hainault, club stalwart Kennedy is optimistic that they can clinch a top-two finish.

Kennedy told the Daily Gazette: “I’m still confident that if we can have a better second half of the season, we’ll get promoted.

“We’re halfway through the season and we’ve played every side once.

“We know that we haven’t been at our best every week and haven’t had a settled side, which has contributed to our inconsistent results.

“There have been a few ins and outs and we’ve had a few injuries, so it’s been very tough for Jake Foley to have a settled team.

“So to be only three points off the promotion places, we’re quite fortunate.

“We have to get a settled side, in the last nine weeks of the season.

“We had Ollie Bocking back for the game at Gidea Park and Romford last weekend for his first league appearance and he bowled well, so that was a boost.

“Simon Fernandes will be back from school and Julian Russell has been available recently.”

Kennedy admits Colchester have had to deal with the pressure of being one of the teams to beat in Division One, this season following their relegation from the top division.

“Other teams may well raise their game against us because we’d been in the Premier League for a few years,” said Kennedy.

“Because of that, we’ll always be one of the favourites to go back up – that’s always the case.

“We’ve typically been in the top division of the Essex League, over recent years.”

Darren Eckford is back for Colchester tomorrow but Josh Rymell, Ben Stephens and Julian Russell are unavailable.