Skipper Chris Adams today warned Sussex's Championship rivals: "We're in the mood to keep on winning."

The county strengthened their bid for a second title in four years on Saturday when they reeled off their fifth successive win against Middlesex at Horsham.

Mushtaq Ahmed took ten wickets in a match for the tenth time in his Sussex career as Middlesex were polished off an hour and a half into the final day.

Sussex are now an impressive 23 points clear going into tomorrow's match against Lancashire.

Adams is determined that his side do not adopt a negative mindset ahead of their meeting with one of the sides, along with Hampshire, whom he regards as their main rivals for the pennant.

In the penultimate match of their 2003 triumph, Sussex went to Old Trafford looking for a draw to cement their lead at the top. They ended up losing by an innings and although glory followed a few days later, Adams has not forgotten that game.

He said: "Take it from me, this team is not thinking about drawing games at the moment.

"People might think that we would settle for a nice draw up there but the belief in our dressing room is so high that there's only one thing on our mind which is what we need to do to win games.

"We have found a formula which works which is doing the basic disciplines well and if we can keep doing that during games for longer periods than the opposition we will keep winning.

"There's no secret to our success. It's all about hard work, team spirit and, above all, honesty from the guys both with themselves and as a squad. Then there is the X factor which, since 2003, has been Mushy."

Adams detected the same level of determination to perform in his star leg spinner as three years ago on the day he returned to Hove two months ago - and his hunch that Mushtaq was in the mood again has proved spot on.

Match figures of 10-202, including all five Middlesex wickets which fell on the final day, have taken his tally in six games to 44 and a phenomenal 309 since he joined the county.

But Sussex's spectacular start is not just about Mushtaq or Rana Naved. A winning margin of 224 runs suggests this latest win was the easiest of those five on the bounce but that was far from the case.

Horsham week claimed two injury victims in Mike Yardy, whose dislocated finger means he will miss the trip to Merseyside, and Rana who was a victim of the spongy, energy-sapping turf which made the four days hard work physically for bowlers on both sides.

"Every game so far has been touch and go and this was no different," said Adams. "Physically it took a lot out of us and that means you end up battling yourself as much as the opposition.

"Of course Mushtaq and Rana's wickets have given us a great base but against Middlesex the catch at short leg Richard Montgomerie took and the one Jason Lewry held on Friday to get rid of Owais Shah were probably the turning points in the match.

"Unless you are in the dressing room you can't quantify just how much those little things do for a team - they make winning, which is more difficult than ever these days, that bit easier."

The main plus from Horsham is that Sussex's top order batsmen all got time in the middle and scored runs which instills confidence.

It was no surprise that after six weeks trying desperately to find some fluency on slow, low wickets the batting unit cashed in on the flattest pitch of the season so far Montgomerie, Carl Hopkinson, Murray Goodwin and Adams all made solid contributions and it was important they did so bearing in mind that Yardy's absence leaves Sussex heavily reliant on that quartet with so many non-specialists lower down the order.

"If we can get totals on the board we know we can apply pressure with the attack we have," added Adams. "Guys like Monty will be feeling a lot better and that is important if we are to stay top and improve our position which is what we are aiming to do."

Middlesex began the final day in a pretty hopeless position with half their side out and another 350 runs to get on a wearing pitch.

Operating from the town end, Mushtaq was in business with the last ball of his third over when Ben Scott failed to pick his googly.

Johann Louw lost his leg stump aiming a slog-sweep over mid-wicket and Chad Keegan saw his off pole knocked back by a leg break as Mushtaq picked off three more hapless victims in as many overs.

Ed Joyce, Middlesex's last hope of salvation, rightly decided that if his side were on their way to defeat he was going down with a century to his name.

He belted Lewry for six over long on and then slog-swept Mushtaq over the mid-wicket boundary before perishing to the same shot when just eight runs short.

There was some entertainment from the last wicket pair Chris Silverwood and Mohammad Ali with Silverwood smashing a 45-ball fifty including eight fours and two sixes before he was stumped off the next delivery after reaching his half-century.

Adams already detects similarities between this season and 2003 and not just the fact that Mushtaq had made hay at Horsham again.

If they can keep their key performers fit and if Rana's locum, Yasir Arafat, has half the impact as the man he is replacing then there is no reason why there will not be more champagne-soaked reverie at Hove come September.