Dudley Kingswinford aiming to bounce back after run ends

reaction after his side’s title push got stuck in the mud at Hereford.

The Midlands One West pacesetters suffered their first defeat in 11 outings when they were edged out 11-7 on Saturday.

It was only DK’s second loss of the season and Shillingford has challenged his players to respond to the setback in the same manner as earlier in the campaign when they were beaten by title rivals Kenilworth, who are this weekend’s visitors.

“The lads were obviously disappointed after the game, but a few of them mentioned that we need to react the same as we did when we lost to Kenilworth earlier in the season,” said Shillingford.

“We won 10 straight games after that defeat and although that run came to an end on Saturday, we are still five points clear at the top.

“We just have to take Saturday on the chin and learn from it.”

The game was Hereford’s first home clash in 91 days due to numerous postponements and DK were greeted by a heavy pitch that negated their usually free-flowing style.

“We knew the conditions were going to be heavy, but the pitch exploded between the two 22s,” added Shillingford.

“It wasn’t conducive to the style of rugby we want to play.

“We stuck to our usual philosophy of chasing tries for the bonus point and kicked a few penalties to the corner when we could have gone for the posts.

“They might be something we look at for this weekend. It might be a case of trying to secure the win first and then worrying about bonus points.

“It’s a big game on Saturday. We lost to them earlier in the season and we want to put that right and get back to winning ways.”

DK led 7-6 at half-time at Hereford courtesy of a try from Stef Shillingford, which was converted by Sam Vaughan.

But a try from the hosts proved to be the only score of the second half.

And Shillingford was left frustrated with the way the game ended, when the final play near the hosts’ line was played out with an uncontested scrum.

“We had pushed their pack back and had been award three successive penalties,” said Shillingford.

“Hereford’s prop was then yellow-carded and because they didn’t have another prop on the bench, it meant the scrums were uncontested.

“We were dominating their pack and would have taken another scrum following the third penalty, and had Hereford been penalised again we would surely have been awarded a penalty try which would have won us the game.

“The laws are supposed to benefit the non-offending team, but it was the reverse on Saturday which was very frustrating.”

Lichfield are five points behind DK following a 40-0 thumping of Sutton Coldfield.

Kidderminster went down 34-0 at home to Whitchurch, while Stourbridge Lions lost 20-18 at Ludlow.

Old Halesonians were edged out 8-7 on home soil by Worcester.