Middlesex’s John Simpson looked for the positives following their Vitality T20 Blast defeat at Essex on Friday.

Simpson and Stevie Eskinazi both scored 46 and put on 92 for the fourth wicket to lead the visitors to 141-3, before the hosts rallied in the last five overs to hold them to 179-6.

But Essex raced to 109-1 in reply as Adam Wheater (45) and Varun Chopra (38) hit out early, before a late wobble left the outcome in the balance.

Tom Helm (2-33) nabbed a brace for Middlesex, who had beaten Surrey at Lord’s the night before, but Dwayne Bravo’s final over saw Simon Harmer steer Essex home to a three-wicket win with one ball to spare.

Simpson said: “We had to wrestle ourselves into a good position. We lost me and ‘Eski’ in that one over which set us back. To get to 180 I thought was a good score.

“If me or Stevie had been in there for another few overs then hopefully we might have been able to get it to 190 or 200.

“We’re missing the likes of Malan, Morgan, Finn and Roland-Jones, so it’s a young top four ultimately at the minute. They’ve done well to come in and do as well as they have.”

Middlesex return to action on Sunday when they welcome Gloucestershire to Uxbridge (2.30pm).