Sussex supporters should prepare themselves for more nail-biting finishes as the Championship campaign unfolds.

That's the view of skipper Chris Adams who also believes his side will win more of them than they lose.

Sussex were beaten by three wickets in their first division opener at Lord's on Saturday, the outcome on a tense final day ultimately settled by an unbroken stand of 40 between Middlesex's Ben Hutton and Simon Cook for the eighth wicket.

But afterwards Adams insisted: "If we keep putting ourselves in positions like that we will win more games than we lose."

Sussex stayed up last season despite only winning three games. Most captains, including Adams, weren't prepared to gamble on going for wins when a draw and a decent haul of bonus points each week would keep them out of the bottom three.

It's ridiculous that a third of the teams in the division face the threat of relegation anyway. Imagine if they tried that in the Premiership.

But the ECB have at least given counties more incentive by increasing the number of points for a win to 14 this season.

And by allowing them to sign a second overseas player, as all the first division sides have, the number of potential match-winners has also increased.

That's what Sussex were hoping when they recruited Mushtaq Ahmed, although the combination of a slow pitch and a septic finger nail on his spinning finger which made bowling a painful experience on Saturday, meant he didn't quite make the debut he might have hoped for.

Adams said: "If we keep putting ourselves in the position we were in we will win a lot of games of cricket this season.

"There are 14 points for a win now which is more of an incentive and each team in Division One has got several potential match-winners.

"A defeat this year isn't as bad as it would have been last season. I can see there being lots of ups and downs in league positions and I think we will do okay."

Middlesex began the final day needing 192 to win with eight wickets in hand and skipper Andy Strauss laid the platform for their success with a patient 83 before he became one of four victims for James Kirtley.

Adams was delighted with the way his vice-captain and new ball partner Jason Lewry bowled, particularly on the final two days when the pitch had flattened out and the muggy atmosphere which made the ball wobble about earlier in the match had disappeared.

"I was really impressed with their desire to keep going and do their best for the team," he added. "Mushtaq did well considering the pain he was in. To see him bowling in agony was quite distressing just to watch."

There were contributions all the way down a long Middlesex batting order, but Kirtley appeared to have put Sussex in charge when he took two wickets in an over with the new ball, including Irishman Ed Joyce after he'd impressed with a composed 49, to raise the lbw tally in the match to 15.

But Cook clubbed Kirtley for three boundaries in an over and Hutton swept the winning hit off Mushtaq to the square leg boundary 35 minutes after tea.

Adams added: "We're disappointed to lose obviously, but you have to give credit to Middlesex. Owais Shah came out on Friday and took the game to us and that's something we failed to do.

"Tim Ambrose and Robin Martin-Jenkins got fifties but then got out and others seemed to be fighting the conditions instead of thinking that if they had a dip then it might be their day. Shah did that for them."

The pitch came in for criticism after 29 wickets fell on the first day, but Adams will mark it 'good' on his match report.

He said: "The number of lbws suggested the wicket was doing a bit too much, but you have to say that it was good cricket wicket because it produced such a good game."

Sussex start their home fixtures against Kent on Wednesday and are likely to be unchanged. Tony Cottey, who had to return home on Friday because of a family illness, is expected to be available while Mushtaq will have antibiotics to clear up his infected fingernail.

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