James Franklin faces a battle to be fit for Gloucestershire's Friends Provident Trophy clash with Surrey at Bristol on Sunday.

The New Zealand all-rounder was again missing from the bowling attack with a hamstring problem as his side slid to a seven-wicket LV County Championship defeat at Essex at the County Ground yesterday.

The visitors were set only 98 to win and after an initial scare at 6-2, they progressed comfortably enough to 17 points, wrapping up victory in the second over after lunch.

Gloucestershire CCC took only three points and it was a disappointing follow-up to their encouraging opening four-day performance of the season against Surrey at The Oval.

Director of cricket John Bracewell took heart from another impressive bowling performance and felt the absence of Franklin, who bowled only six overs in the game, was crucial.

"It probably made a difference because he was swinging the ball a lot at the end of the first day," said Bracewell.

"His hamstring tightened up. It's a new injury and there was no point in taking any risks. He will rest up over the next couple of days and hopefully be available for the Surrey game.

"I thought we bowled particularly well. Neither side batted as well as they might have in the conditions and in the end the pitch probably favoured the team batting last, chasing a low total.

"Both teams caught and fielded to a high standard and the difference between them probably came down to around 70 runs.

"We know we have a good batting side and it wasn't a case of lack of application."

Gloucestershire could add only four to their overnight total of 115-9 on a gloriously sunny third day as Vikram Banerjee was caught behind off Ryan ten Doeschate for 11.

It was James Foster's ninth catch of the match, to equal an Essex record. Banerjee's wicket also gave ten Doeschate 3-35 from 11.1 overs and match figures of 8-97. Maurice Chambers (3-30) and David Masters (3-12) had plunged Gloucestershire into trouble the previous evening in a match dominated by seam bowling.

In such a low-scoring contest, Essex still needed to bat well and they made an alarming start. Varun Chopra was caught by Craig Spearman at first slip off Steve Kirby in the second over with only a single on the board.

Worse was to follow when Jaik Mickleburgh was pinned lbw by Jon Lewis for a duck. That brought in Matt Walker, who together with Jason Gallian, set about steadying the ship.

Gallian had made 11 when providing Spearman with another slip catch off Ian Saxelby. It was 46-3 in the 15th over and Gloucestershire still had a slim chance.

It was snuffed out by Walker (48 not out) and skipper Mark Petinni (28 not out), who both needed moments of good fortune, playing and missing on several occasions as Gloucestershire's seamers made a fight of it.

Both batsmen also produced some fine shots and when lunch was taken Essex were 93-3, just five runs from achieving their target.