Bury St Edmunds new head coach, Jon Curry, admitted that his new charges were “very poor” during his first match at the helm, an 18-27 home defeat to Henley Hawks last Saturday.

Curry is looking for a reaction from his players this afternoon, away at Clifton (near Bristol), a game that was initially postponed from a couple of weeks ago due to the wintry weather.

“To say that last weekend was not a great performance is an under-statement. We were very poor,” confessed Curry, who took over the reins at The Haberden at the start of this month following Ollie Smith’s departure due to family commitments.

Curry continued: “Many factors contributed to last week’s performance. As a team we did not perform at all, and we didn’t look after the ball.

“However, you can always learn a lot more from your players and the team after a defeat, than you can after a win by 50 points.

“The players have reacted well in training this week. I was very forthright and honest with them, and there’s a lot of pride to play for. I’ll be looking for a reaction, though obviously Clifton is always a difficult place to go to, as are all the clubs in the West Country,” added Curry.

As a result of last weekend’s defeat, Bury dropped a place to seventh in the National League Two South, with their conquerors Henley Hawks leapfrogging them into six spot, with six matches remaining.

The Wolfpack are targeting a highest-ever finish, but to do that they must eclipse the sixth spot finish from their first season at this level, in 2015-16, and they are currently 15 points adrift of fifth-placed Redruth.

Furthermore, the Suffolk side have been poor on the road. In fact, they have lost their last seven away matches on the bounce, their last away win arriving back on October 28 with a 29-21 victory at Canterbury.

BURY SQUAD: Beales, King, Greco, Bixby, Scholes, Mitchell, Stapleton, Browne. Ashby, Harrison, Corcoran, Palomares, Kohler, Duplene, Honey.

Replacements: Brown, Wilson, Uru, Younie, Taylor.

- Colchester are at home to mid-table Fullerians in London One North this afternoon (3pm), hoping to bounce back from last weekend’s 53-42 loss at Old Priorians.