MICK Newell is hopeful the pain of Notts' last-ball defeat in their Pro40 League decider with Sussex will not scupper their bid for County Championship glory.

The Outlaws surrendered what would have been their first one-day trophy in 17 years to the Sharks when Murray Goodwin hit Charlie Shreck for six.

That disappointment has understandably hit the Notts players, who had been massive favourites to win the Trent Bridge clash until the death.

But their season is still very much alive as they are only four points off the top of County Championship Division One with two games to go.

"We won't know how the players are going to react until tomorrow or Wednesday. It is very difficult to assess how they will respond," said Newell.

"No one had a word to say in the dressing room after the game.

"We have to try to push this to the back on our minds and focus on what is to come because we have important matches, particularly against Surrey.

"If we go down there and win that one then we will be in with a chance of winning the title going into the last game.

"The one-day thing is the one thing that has been missing, but it has gone for another year now.

"I have always said that four-day cricket is the most important thing – I would still rather win the Championship every year – and we have a chance of doing it."

Notts scored 226-6 and looked to have wrapped up the game when they reduced Sussex to 130-8.

But a stand of 99 in ten overs between Murray Goodwin (87 not out) and Mohammad Sami (32 not out) set up the exciting finale that saw the Zimbabwean snatch the Pro40 title for the Sharks.

Newell said: "I think you have to look how Sussex won it and give a lot of credit to Murray Goodwin in a pressure situation.

"How many players would have given up on it? He probably never thought he was going to win it for them at first, but he never gave up.

"Looking back I don't really see how we would have done things a lot differently.

"Even in the last eight overs you thought we would pull in a catch on the boundary to get over the line, but we didn't. You have to say at the end they played outstandingly well."

Newell felt spinners Samit Patel (3-36) and Graeme Swann (3-33) were stand-out performers and on any other day who have clinched victory for the Outlaws.

"I think our spinners have been a strong point of our one-day cricket for a while now," he said.

"I felt if they bowled well then we would win the game – and they did – it just wasn't quite enough."