Express & Star

Coach happy as Dudley Kingswinford take control

Dudley Kingswinford earned praise for their game management after making it two wins from two in Midlands 1 West.

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DK made light work of a potential tricky trip to Droitwich, returning home with five more points following a 29-5 success.

“Things have started well with two five-pointers.

“We had a good first half but Droitwich are always competitive, especially at home, and we were perhaps guilty of playing to their strengths at times,” said head coach Neil Shillingford.

“But we spoke about that at half-time and the pleasing thing was the way we controlled the second half. We controlled territory and managed the ball.

“When you play the stronger sides you need to control certain areas of the pitch. The game management was a big positive from Saturday.”

Stef Shillingford score two of DK’s five tries with James Ryan, Tommy Walker and Ryan Smitheman also touching down while Sam Vaughan landed two conversions.

DK now face a trip to Worcester on Friday night with Shillingford looking for an improvement under the lights. “We are under the lights on Friday and that’s a completely different mindset for the players,” he said.

“The build to the game is different. the players have had a day at work and then they go straight to the game. It’s a massive difference. On a Saturday, some players like to lie in some get up early and start thinking about the game. They all prepare differently but that’s not the same for a night game.

“We haven’t performed to our best under the lights in recent years and that’s something we have to work on.

“We will still train Thursday but the plan is to do a lighter session and run through set-pieces.

“It’s going to be another competitive game.”

Stourbridge Lions opened their win account with a power-packed display at home to Kidderminster.

Lions took the derby-day spoils thanks to a 46-17 success.

Lichfield, who host the Lions on Saturday, are still searching for their first win after going down 44-26 to early-season pacesetters Stoke.