Bury St Edmunds, happy to see the back of a tough January, welcome Old Redcliffians to The Haberden this afternoon for a National League Two South fixture (3pm kick-off).

Head coach Nick Wakley has been happy with the progress of his squad, since his arrival last November, despite the recent back-to-back defeats against league leaders Rams (3-19 at home) and at Tonbridge Juddians (27-15) last weekend.

They are currently installed in seventh position, although remarkably only six points separate eight clubs in mid-table, including today’s visitors Old Redcliffians, who are five points behind in 12th slot.

“It’s nice to see the back of January, after three tough away games and a home match against the leaders,” explained Wakley.

“Last weekend was frustrating, because in the first 25 minutes we had to make just seven tackles, which showed how dominant we were during that early period. We should have been 20-0 up during those first 20-odd minutes.

“However, they (Tonbridge) would not back down. They tackled everything that moved, while we went off our game-plan slightly.

“It was a similar story to the Rams game, when again we didn’t make our possession count.

“So this is a big learning curve for us, although I think we are getting there. It just takes time.

“We’re really looking forward to February. We have a couple of good home games (also third-placed Taunton Titans on February 16).

“It’s very tight in the middle of the table, and one defeat can see you drop four places, if three or four of the other teams around you win their game.

“But the players are not focused on that. They want to build on their performances, that’s their focus,” added Wakley.

The Wolkpack will welcome back fly-half Cam Ritchie, following his return from South Africa, and centre Ben Leng after injury for today’s test.

Will Affleck, who has played well at fly-half recently, is sidelined by injury.

BURY: Robinson, Francombe, Hill, Bixby, Scholes, Grey, Walker, Browne. Harvey, Richie, Bodkin, Leng, O’Reilly, Johnson, Kohler. Replacements: Uru, Graham, Cooper, Limlei, Wiltshire.