CARL Douglas has refused to push the panic button after Dudley Kingswinford's heavy defeat in their opening fixture of the new season.

DK lost their first game in National League Three Midlands 74-7 away at Sandbach last Saturday.

The result was director of rugby Douglas' first competitive contest after his arrive at Heathbrook following the team's relegation from National League Two North last season.

However, the new DK chief says the result far from reflects his side's ability.

"There is no need to panic," he said. "The overall score does not reflect this team's ability or the hard work that the players have put in over the summer.

"It was a disappointing start but everyone is very focused on putting that right as soon as possible.

"I believe that this group of players are more than capable of challenging at the top of this league and they will show that in the coming games.

Against Sandbach, the home side took the game to DK from the off. Within 20 minute they had scored four well-taken tries courtesy for some poor defending and kicking out of hand.

The game was tied up and effectively over in the first quarter, during which time DK rarely left their half and surrendered any ball to the opposition before meaningful rugby could be developed.

The second quarter proved to be more of an even contest as DK clawed their way back into the game. As they strove for parity at the break down they began developing phases of rugby and had two clear opportunities to score that were lost as wrong options were taken with the line begging.

After the break, DK pressed the opposition line only for a fumbled move to be intercepted by Ben Elliot before the Sandbach full back ran in from 75 metres.

Substitute Danny Hawkins then forced his way over the line to give DK a glimmer of hope before the last quarter of the game saw Sandbach increase their intensity and hold on the game with five more tries.

"We didn't do ourselves justice and were a little shell-shocked," added Douglas. "Sandbach deserve a lot of credit for their direct rugby.

"However, we had opportunities that we didn't take. We need to improve our execution in attack and make sure our one-to-one tackling is better," added Douglas.

He also confirmed that there have been no new additions to the squad and that he is happy to work with the current group of players.

A positive note saw both the club's second and third teams secure good victories last weekend.

DK will now welcome Scunthorpe to Heathbrook this Saturday.