After watching his side record their first win of the season in the County Championship, Gloucestershire Head coach Richard Dawson said: “I think it was a good cricket wicket.

"All our bowlers performed exceptionally well over the three days and for a squad of young bowlers, their performance was very encouraging.

“We bowled with discipline and  we were consistent in the way we were hitting our lengths. We’ve been asking for improvements from our bowlers and they’ve done it.

“But it was the overall team performance which has given me a lot of satisfaction.

"Chris Dent batted exceptionally well in both innings and Pete Handscomb’s first innings score and his  partnership with David Payne helped give us what was a an important first innings lead.

“We’ve also fielded better than we have done so I can’t fault the lads for their performance.”

Essex Head coach Paul Grayson saw his side slump to their first defeat of the campaign.

“We’ve played some outstanding four-day cricket over the last 12 games or so  and at some stage,  we were bound to lose a game," he said.

“In this game after the first hour, Gloucestershire have been the better side. We’ played to beat kent here, we played well at The oval against Surrey and maybe this defeat has probably been a kick up the backside for us.”