NEIL Shillingford has challenged his Dudley Kingswinford players to maintain their recent high standards as they approach the end of the season.

The director of rugby continued to be encouraged by his side’s progress despite back-to-back defeats against the league’s top two sides.

DK lost 23-16 when leaders Bridgnorth visited Heathbrook last Saturday. Once again a late try handed them defeat just as it had the previous week at second-placed Bournville.

The fact his side have got so close to the Midlands One West pacesetters has left Shillingford in no doubt of what his squad is capable of.

“The players have set the bar high for themselves now,” he said. “I want them to match that against the other sides we will come up against as we head toward the back end of the season.

“If we match those performance levels, then the league places and results will look after themselves.

“We need to almost forget looking ahead and what certain results could mean and just go out and put in the performances we know we can do. That will stand us in good stead moving forwards.”

DK don’t have a game this weekend due the start of the Six Nations but will face a trip to Burton on February 13.

Shillingford added: “That game with Burton is quite important for us now. We have to move on quickly from the last two defeats, put them firmly out of our minds and get back to winning ways. The first chance to do that is at Burton and that is our next goal."

An even first half against Bridgnorth ended with DK the more dominant, though they will be disappointed not to go in with a bigger lead than the 6-5 they had to settle for.

Firstly, there was an unfortunate handling error by Nic Adams, the only blot on a good comeback performance, which may have lead to points. The ever reliable Duncan Tompkins missed a penalty attempt and a five metre scrummage threatened the line before a knock on at the crucial moment relieved the pressure.

Bridgnorth came out firing in the second half before the hosts hit back themselves to take a 16-15 lead into the final ten minutes.

But, as time ran out, it was the visitors that took bagged the final try as Matt Farrington crashed over to make it 20-16. A late penalty added to Bridgnorth’s tally just before the whistle.

“The players were disappointed,” admitted Shillingford. “But they know that the last two could have gone either way. The difference this week is that I think we gave them the win rather than them taking it.

“Once again we gave them a foothold and let them dictate the contact areas. But we fought back well, played the elements better and got our noses in front. At the end we failed to clear our lines properly and got punished.

“We will draw a line under it, take the positives and move on.”

Meanwhile, the Heathbrook director says he is already planning for next season.

“We want to see if there is a way of introducing some of the Colts towards the end of the season,” he added. “That will benefit the club in the future and give us an idea of our options for next season.

"I am speaking to a number of the squad and seeing who might be keen to be involved next term and looking at the budgets we can work to.

“A good end to the season, regardless of if we force ourselves into the promotion race or not, will be important for us.”