Captain Steve Patterson reiterated his desire for Yorkshire to start games better after their three-day defeat against Essex at Chelmsford.
Yorkshire suffered a second loss of the Specsavers County Championship season, with this eight-wicket reverse confirmed after tea as title-chasing Essex chased 92.
The White Rose were bowled out for 208 in their first innings and were always fighting an uphill battle from there.
“As we have done for a number of games, we were always coming from behind and trying to claw it back,” said Patterson. “And Essex are a good side. They took us out of the game.
“To be 120 behind against a team of this quality, it’s always going to be a challenge. It proved too much. There’s only so far you can come from behind and keep competing.
“We’re very disappointed. We came down here on the back of a fantastic win at Scarborough, one of the best we’ve had in a number of years. So we had a bit of confidence.
“We knew it would be hard work against a good side on a pitch that would probably offer a result somehow.
“Unfortunately, the way we batted over the two innings, I don’t think we gave ourselves a chance to put ourselves ahead of the game.
“For the first 18 wickets in the game, I think we had one score over 30 (Harry Brook’s 46 in the first innings).
“At the end of the day, you’re not going to win a game from that position.”
Through Keshav Maharaj’s superb 85 either side of lunch, Yorkshire managed to give themselves the slimmest of victory chances by setting a target of 92 on a challenging pitch. But Essex secured their fifth straight home win with comfort after tea.
Ben Coad was unable to take the field in Essex’s pursuit due to a sore calf, and he will be scanned ahead of Saturday’s clash with pacesetters Somerset, who could field Jack Brooks and Dom Bess at Emerald Headingley.
Coach Andrew Gale added: “We knew it was going to be tough, and it wasn’t ideal being three down overnight. But I asked for some character and resilience today, to show some Yorkshire fight, and I thought we did that.
“Keshav’s innings was the spark of the day, but we were never really in the game second time around.”
