Kent suffered their second defeat in three Royal London One-Day Cup matches when they went down by five wickets against Essex at Chelmsford on Wednesday.

A brilliant innings of 91 from Matt Coles, who was ably supported by James Tredwell (47 not out) in an eighth-wicket stand of 140, helped Kent recover from 135-7 to 285-8.

However, half-centuries from New Zealander Jesse Ryder and former England man Ravi Bopara, plus 49 from opener Nick Browne, eased the home side to their target with five balls to spare to give them first blood in the annual Battle of the Bridge.

After Kent had again lost the toss, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly gave them another steady start before Denly edged one from Matthew Quinn onto his stumps with the scoreboard showing 54 in the 12th over.

In-form Bell-Drummond played-on, also from Quinn, for 28 from 52 balls and it was 80-3 when Sam Northeast (19) fell to the young New Zealand quick who finished with 3-50 from 10 overs.

Fabian Cowdrey and birthday-boy Sam Billings were both stumped off wides by James Foster in the space of four crazy balls from Ashar Zaidi and Kent were staring down the barrel at 101-5 two balls before the midway point.

Alex Blake added 14 but was run-out after a mix-up with Darren Stevens (21), who clubbed two sixes before becoming Zaidi's third scalp to leave them 135-7 with 15.3 overs remaining.

However the recovery came from the unlikely source of the bats of Coles and Tredwell.

Coles did not score from the first six balls he faced but brought up his half-century from the next 34, with two sixes and six fours.

Tredwell contributed 36 from 35 balls as the duo brought up a century stand for the eighth wicket and Coles' onslaught continued, eventually seeing him depart for 91 from just 51 balls with seven balls remaining.

He and Tredwell put on 140 in 14.1 overs with Coles cracking 10 fours and five sixes before being bowled by Ryan ten Doeschate. His final 58 runs came from just 19 balls.

Tredwell's 47 came from 42 balls and Mitch Claydon eight not out as Kent posted 285-8.

Kent made the breakthrough in just the fifth over of the reply with Stevens accounting for Tom Westley (9) but Ryder and Browne steadied the ship and the score was 109 before Tredwell had Ryder caught by Stevens for 50 from 62 balls in the 22nd over.

Browne followed 10 balls later, stumped by Billings off Tredwell for 49 from 60 deliveries.

Dan Lawrence and Ravi Bopara took the score on to 180 before Lawrence fell for 35 to a superb running catch from Ivan Thomas off Fabian Cowdrey who finished with a tight 1-43 from 10 overs.

However Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate took the game away from Kent by adding 103 in 12.4 overs, only for ten Doeschate to be caught by Cowdrey off Coles with just three runs required. His 45 came from 39 balls, with three boundaries.

Bopara was still there at the end unbeaten on 74, made from 79 deliveries with just three boundaries.

Tredwell finished with 2-41 from his eight overs, with Stevens (1-17 off three) and Coles (1-64 from 10) the other wicket-takers.

Kent have two wins and two losses from their opening four games. They now take a break from the competition before travelling to Lord's to face Middlesex on Sunday, July 24.