ESSEX head coach Paul Grayson insists County Championship promotion has always been his side's main aim this season as they return to red-ball cricket after their T20 heartache.
A four-day game against their Friends Life t20 semi-final conquerors Northamptonshire began at Colchester on Tuesday, and with promotion still in their grasp, Grayson is keen for a strong finish.
Ultimately, the Eagles were beaten by seven wickets at Edgbaston, and although Grayson conceded it was a "huge disappointment" to lose to the Steelbacks, he is hoping to end the season with a promotion.
He said: "There's going to be twists and turns and all we can do is keep trying to win matches, keep taking points and hopefully come the end of September we are in a position to say we've either caught Lancashire or finished second.
"The County Championship is still the most important format of cricket for me – I still see that as the pinnacle, trying to play Division One cricket and that's what we're aiming to do in the next six or seven weeks."
Essex's cause has been boosted by the arrival of two new signings – both with international experience.
First came the arrival of India opener Gautam Gambhir to replace Hamish Rutherford as Essex's overseas player for the rest of the campaign.
And then the club also swooped to sign England spinner Monty Panesar, who has been allowed to leave Sussex on loan for the rest of the season before leaving the club after a tough season both on and off the field.
Both are in the side facing Northamptonshire and Grayson was thrilled to be able to bring in a man of Gambhir's quality.
"When he became available, we snapped him up," he said. "We knew that Tom Westley's finger was taking a bit longer than we liked to heal, Owais Shah has pulled a hamstring and will probably be out for a couple more weeks and Ravi [Bopara] will be joining up with England, so we just wanted to get someone in at the top of the order who's reliable and that's what he's been throughout his career.
"He's an outstanding player, Ryan ten Doeschate knows him well from the IPL and he's a super bloke, he's already fitted in well with the lads.
"He's here to enjoy his cricket – sometimes people are quite cynical when you bring overseas players in but Gautam wants to play county cricket, he's been short of a little bit of cricket and he wants to come here and enjoy himself."
Gambhir is available for the YB40 competition as well, with the group stage coming to a close on Monday.
Back-to-back wins over Derbyshire – again at Colchester on Sunday – and then Lancashire on Monday would see the Eagles finish second in their group, and should other results go that way, it could be enough for a semi-final spot.
And Grayson said: "If we can beat Derbyshire on Sunday and then beat Lancashire on Monday and a couple of other results go our way then we can progress.
"Hopefully people will come out and support us this week to get behind the boys.
"I know there's disappointment at not winning on Saturday but there's lots of positives to take from this season."
The Colchester festival has again proved popular with supporters, and Grayson hopes that the event is here to stay on the Essex calendar.
"I always enjoying coming to Colchester," he said. "As a player I enjoyed the ground and now as a coach too. There's always a nice atmosphere, it's always a good pitch.
"The ground looks in superb condition, everything's gone nicely and I think it's one of the nicest outgrounds in the country. Everyone makes us feel very welcome."