DK off to a flier but Shillingford wants more
Dudley Kingswinford coach Neil Shillingford insists their is plenty to work on despite his side’s eye-catching start to the season.
DK hit the ground running in Midland 1 West thanks to a 52-24 success against Whitchurch.
But while he was naturally delighted with the result, there were certain aspects of the the display that Shillingford feels need improving.
“It was a good result but the game was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests,” said Shillingford, whose side reached the play-offs last season.
“There were times in the first half when we let them back in too easily and there are plenty of things for us to work on.
“It was tight at half-time but we made a few changes for the second half and they worked out for us, and in the end we ran out comfortable winners.
“One of the pleasing aspects was that we didn’t panic when things went against us. All in all it was a positive day.”
Hooker James Ryan bagged DK’s first try of the afternoon with Sam Vauhan adding a conversion.
Whitchurch replied with a penalty before the hosts extended their lead when Joe Tighe touched down. A converted try brought the visitors to within two points but DK responded with an impressive try that was created by Charlie Baffour and scored by Tommy Walker. Vaughan added the extra two points.
Stef Shillingford them intercepted a pass before sending debutant fly-half Josh Melvin away for a converted score.
The Shropshire responded with a seven-pointer of their own to make it 26-17 at half-time.
And it was the visitors who struck first after the gap to cut the gap to two points.
But DK then took a grip on proceedings as they added 26 unanswered points.
Walker crossed twice to complete his hat-trick with Pete Griffiths and Harry Bayliss also adding tries while Vaughan landed another three conversions.
Lichfield and Old Halesonians served up a thrilling opening day clash that saw 112 points scored.
In the end, it was visiting Old Hales who ran out 60-52 winners.
Newly-promoted Kidderminster tasted defeat in their first outing, going down 59-19 at home to Stoke.
There was no joy for Stourbridge Lions who lost 31-7 at Kenilworth.
