Bury St Edmunds head coach, Ollie Smith, admitted that last weekend’s opening day National League Two South defeat to newly-promoted Tonbridge Angels had been a “wake-up call” for his new charges.

The 17-50 home defeat was certainly not the way that Smith wanted to mark his first game at the helm, at The Haberden, and he needs his new-look team to make amends at another promoted team, Broadstreet, tomorrow afternoon (kick-off 2.30pm).

“Broadstreet went up as champions (of National League Three Midlands) last season, and they will give us a tough game,” admitted Smith this morning.

“Tonbridge Juddians were also newly promoted, and they gave us a real hiding last weekend, so we know that we need to put in a better performance.

“Last weekend was a big wake-up call. It was a real eye-opener, for us coaches as well as the players. We need to start gelling as a team.

“We just didn’t do what we said we were going to do last week, and we have worked on fixing some of those glaring errors.

“We have introduced a new system of defending and attacking, and it all takes time, but we let a lot of people down last weekend,” added Smith.

Coventry-based Broadstreet kicked off their season with a 41-21 defeat at Taunton, although that match was closer than the scoreline suggests.

“They have a decent pack, and their fly-half is a tidy player,” continued Smith, who spent most of his playing career in the Midlands, at Leicester Tigers.

Smith added: “Broadstreet have traditionally always had a good set of forwards, and so we need to match them in that department.

“It was only in the last 10 minutes that Taunton pulled away last weekend. Otherwise, they looked a solid team.

“There will be a few changes in our team this weekend. We have a few injuries, and obviously there will be a few other changes following such a result.

“We want to give everyone a chance over the coming weeks. We need to nail down our best XV, and it’s not ideal trying to do that during the actual season, rather than during pre-season, but that’s where we are at the moment.”

BURY: Smith, Bixby, Coutts, Scholes, Stanley, Mitchell (c), Stapleton, Browne. Navas, McBride, Duplenne, Rouse, Kohler, Corcoran, Lord. Replacements: Brown, Edison, Uru, Meyers, Harrison.