NEIL SHILLINGFORD feels Dudley Kingswinford’s defeat at Stratford may in part be due to a hangover from the previous two seasons.

The director of rugby watched his side beaten 39-28 and said they need to start playing to their strengths.

“Obviously it’s disappointing,”

said Shillingford. “We showed a bit of naivety in the first half. We have some young guys and we stood off them and let them dictate pitch position and paid the price for that.

“We changed things for the second half but three mistakes have led to three tries.

“I think perhaps some of the players are worried about failing after the past two seasons and are not making decisions.

“What is encouraging is that we didn’t play well and could have won, but we didn’t deserve to and there are lessons we can take forward.”

DK are at home on Saturday to a Walsall side who have had a tough start to the season, but Shillingford said he will be taking nothing for granted.

“I’m sure they will come good and have had some tough games, but for us its a case of no need to panic.”