Bury St Edmunds’ Head Coach, Nick Wakley, admits that it has been “a bit of a rollercoaster,” since he took over the reins at The Haberden last November.

However, he has managed to guide the Wolfpack away from the National League Two South relegation battle and, despite a current run of just one win in their last six outings, they remain well-placed in eighth spot ahead of today’s test at Worthing Raids.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, one great performance followed by a pretty poor one,” said Wakley.

“Overall, though, I’m happy with what has happened since I came in. Once we got rid of that threat of relegation, and we started climbing the league, it’s been very much about building for next season.

“It’s been very much about performances, and the one we had the week previous week against Taunton (narrow 24-22 defeat) was absolutely fantastic.

“We played all the rugby, and I think we dominated the game before they sneaked it with the late penalty.

“But the players did what we asked them to do in all the preview meetings and training sessions.

“We came up just short, but there were huge strides made, and I am over-the-moon with that performance, especially after the Dings (21-14 defeat) game,” added Wakley.

The Bury coach also revealed that captain Ollie Watson is close to a return after injury.

“We have the captain coming back now as well,” said Wakley.

“He needs to get some rugby first, before he returns to the team, but it’s great to have him back in the fold.

“Ollie had a head injury and also took a huge haemometer on the thigh. He had a history of that, so we shouldn’t rush him back. We had to get him right because he plays on the edge.”

With reference to today’s game, Wakley said: “Worthing had a great game against Old Albanians with a 34-34 draw last time out.

“They are a different team to a lot of sides that we have played this season. They have a bit more of a backs threat, so we want the set piece dominance and then we want to put their decision makers under pressure.”

Jacob Bodkin is ruled out through injury, but there are returns for Mark Kohler and Connor O’Reilly in the back-line.