DUDLEY Kingswinford's thumping pre-season friendly success over Droitwich last Saturday shows the team's progress, says director of rugby Neil Shillingford.

DK bagged a 53-0 win at Heathbrook to get Shillingford's new era off to a flying start.

He said: "There were a lot of positives that we can now take forwards.

"It gave us a chance to put into practice the things we have been working on on the training pitch.

"Our new patterns of play worked really well and so did some of the little things we have been working on in defence.

"Another big positive was our kicking strategy, which was something that the players felt needed to improve from last season.

"Droitwich did have a small squad so our fresher legs probably told in the end to make the score a little bigger."

Shillingford said he is looking forward to this Friday's second friendly at Bromsgrove and won't be getting carried away.

"We still have a lot to learn," he added. "The win was great, especially for some of the younger players that have experienced back-to-back relegations in recent seasons. It is good for them to be on a winning team and we can all take some confidence from it.

"All it means at the moment is that we are on the right track. We will learn a lot more from the Bromsgrove game where we must go out and continue to progress."