In the end it turned out to be a second Inter-provincial defeat in a week for the North West Warriors but Head Coach Bobby Rao and his right hand man Ian McGregor can take plenty of positives from their reverse at Eglinton in the past couple of days.

The Warriors had managed to salvage a draw at College Park in the first of the 3-dayers which was a magnificent effort given the star studded line up the Lightning had assembled to greet them. The one-day game on Saturday past served only to highlight the difference between an International team and a Development one whereas the contest with the Knights was a truer reflection of where the Warriors are at right now.

Quite rightly the coaching staff are concerned by the batting at present, still no score over 200 and still no-one passing 50 after 5 innings in those three matches tells its own story. What it doesn't tell however is that the margin of victory by the NCU was three wickets and yet the Warriors had Johnny Thompson on one leg for half of the contest. Two of the stars for the visitors during the seven sessions were Phil Eaglestone and Chris Dougherty, guys who have North West blood in every vein and artery. The shoe, so to speak, could so easily have been on the other foot.

The beauty of it all however is that while everyone likes winning and nobody likes losing, the North West has taken a stand and is determined to see it through. Bobby, Ian and the back-room team of Peter Gillespie, Junior McBrine, Stephen McCartney and Mark Olphert are looking at this as the 3-year programme that CricketIreland said it would be.

They were determined to pick a squad that would grow together, gelled with a sprinkling of experience that would help to harness their collective talents. They could easily have looked at the prospective opposition and opted for more experience but if you're not going to give your most promising young players their chance in a tournament like this then when are you?

Bobby Rao's aim since taking up his post has been to prepare as many North West players as he can to make the step up to International cricket in those next three years and come rain, hail or shine he intends to stick with it. I've talked with Bobby at length every single day for the past week and agree with him completely that his team came out of the Knight's game with their pride very much intact.

He wouldn't dwell on the injury to Johnny Thompson but it was clear to everyone that this would have been a much closer game with the Brigade man rattling in on a seaming track. Regardless of that the result wouldn't have changed the Warriors' approach one iota had it been a win, a loss or a draw.

The same players will form the nucleus of the squad not just for the next match but for the remainder of this season and probably the next two as well, and that's how it should be. There will be those within the North West and beyond who will see only the results column and bemoan the fact that the Warriors are struggling to stay competitive.

Well, the bottom line is that we can't pick a team of Internationals simply because we don't have them available to us. Leinster opted to play a team with 576 caps between them in the one-day game on Saturday so let's be realistic here- we're not going to compete with that no matter who we pick.

There is absolutely no pressure on either the Knights or the Warriors as only a disaster can stop the southerners collecting all three of the Inter-provincial trophies and fair play to them for flexing their considerable muscle. The North West team that played so well this week with their 9 caps between them played with their collective hearts on their sleeves and came mighty close to pulling off a huge win. They deserve our support because these lads want to play for the Warriors and the spirit in the camp is plain for all to see.

Let's hope everybody in our neck of the woods gets right behind them throughout the rest of the summer and with a few more performances like this one a first victory might not be that far away.

Although I detest including personal stuff in the column I can't close without thanking the many people who sent good wishes during my recent fortnight in hospital and indeed quite a few who climbed five flights of stairs in Altnagelvin to call in. I have no idea what happened to me - just that I have a condition I can't spell but which thankfully at the minute anyway doesn't look like shutting me up anytime soon. Thank you one and all for the messages and hopefully it will be a clean bill of health once they've finished poking and cutting.