NATHAN Round is confident his Old Hill side has the right character to cope in the promotion race.

The Haden Hill side’s stay at the top of Birmingham League Division One lasted only a week as they fell to defeat on a beast of a pitch at Berkswell last Saturday.

After suffering late season heartbreak in the last two years, the fight for the top two spots looks set to go down to the wire once more but this time Round believes his side will not wilt under the pressure.

He said: “There’s a lot more of a calmer edge around the team this year.

“Even though we’ve got a younger side than last year, we don’t seem as hot headed.

“I’m quietly confident about this year, I think we will be alright over the closing weeks.

“Obviously you need a bit of luck in terms of the weather and winning tosses but we are still in a good position with plenty of cricket still to be played.”

Old Hill will certainly be happy they don’t have to play Berkswell again, who replaced them at the top after their six wicket win.

The Coventry-based side seem to have had the voodoo sign over Round’s men this year and though Old Hill did better than when they were dismissed for just 64 in May’s reverse fixture - their total of 127 never looked like being enough.

That said, Round was disappointed with the bowling display on a pitch reported to league officials by the umpires.

He said: “We bowled surprisingly poorly on a track which was ideal to bowl on - our spinners won’t get a better pitch this year but we didn’t take advantage.

“I think if we had managed to bat out the overs, or maybe got another 25 to 30 runs, we would have been in with a chance.

“As I said last time when we were beaten by Berkswell, it’s how you bounce back from these things that’s important.

“We have done well in this respect so far this year.”

Old Hill head to Bromsgrove this Saturday.