John Bracewell expects the Cheltenham Festival crowd to help re-ignite Gloucestershire's season.

The county entertain Derbyshire at the College tomorrow (11am), the first day of a vital Championship fixture, and director of cricket Bracewell is keen to remind punters of his side's position at the top of Division Two.

Spirits could certainly do with a lift after last weekend's defeat at Sussex in the Friends Provident Trophy semi-final, which followed a 76-run reverse at Kent in the four-day competition.

Bracewell is also well aware of Gloucestershire CCC's sorry recent Championship record at Cheltenham – they have not tasted victory since Sussex were overcome during his first spell at the club in 2001.

He said: "In my travels around the world, when people ask me about England I always tell them about the Cheltenham Festival – I love it.

"It was always one of the highlights of the season in my first spell here, as it is now, and a lot of that is to do with playing in front of big and partisan crowds. They can certainly give us an edge.

"I know we haven't won a Championship game at the Festival for a long time, but hopefully people will see that we're top tof the league and come out in numbers.

"We are playing positive cricket this season, so inevitably there are some you win and some you lose. I would rather see us adopt that approach than play for draws."

Gloucestershire must do without opening batsman Will Porterfield, who is on international duty with Ireland, while fast bowler Ian Saxelby (knee) remains sidelined despite returning to training yesterday.

"Both William and Ian will miss game one but there's a good chance we'll have them both available for the rest of the Festival," said Bracewell.

Derbyshire could be boosted by the return of their leading Championship wicket taker Graham Wagg, who missed their draw at Northampton this week with an ankle problem.

Derbyshire have recruited Somerset CCC seamer Steffan Jones on loan for a month.

Jones has not played for Somerset's first-team this campaign. He had 12 months with Derbyshire in 2006 when he claimed a personal best first-class wicket tally of 59 and was their player of the year.

The 35-year-old Welshman had a month on loan with Kent earlier this season and is out of contract in September.

Somerset director of cricket Brian Rose said: "He will be going for a minimum of a month, unless we get injuries.

"He wants to go and play first-team cricket, rather than second-team here, which is a good opportunity for his future career whether we retain him or he goes elsewhere."

●Gloucestershire are offering discounted prices on tickets purchased in advance for the three NatWest Pro40 matches at the Festival.

To benefit from a £5 reduction for the games against Worcestershire (July 17), Essex (July 19) and Durham (July 24) call 0117 910 8010.

● Seamer David Payne, 18, has been called up to the England Under-19 squad to play Bangladesh.