BUDE player/coach Angus Hodges hopes his side’s early season wobbles are a thing of the past as they prepare to return to league action on Saturday at South Molton (2.30pm).

The Bencoolen Meadow outfit were expected to be amongst the front runners for promotion from the Tribute Cornwall and Devon League having finished third last year, but have lost four games already, one more than they managed in the whole of last season, to sit sixth.

However their six bonus points means that they are within six points of second-placed Torquay Athletic.

Injuries and unavailability for certain fixtures haven’t helped, but they returned to winning ways last time out with a convincing 22-6 victory over Plymstock Albion Oaks, who went into the game top of the table.

Hodges hopes that will be the catalyst they need.

He said: “Hopefully we’ve had our rut already and it’s really a case of onwards and upwards from here. The performance in our last game was a lot better and gives us a good foundation to keep building.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do but to go through a season without any issues is rare. Hopefully we’ve got most of ours out the way.

“I’m also quite excited to go hunting in the league. There’s less pressure now with where we are, so it’ll be nice to climb the league over the course of the year.”

Hodges, who himself is out until at least Christmas with a cheekbone injury suffered at Lanner a few weeks ago, admits that making sure they are ready from the outset and nailing down positions, is of paramount importance.

He said: “Last week we talked about the desire to play as opposed to tactically or technically, whereas this week is slightly different, as we’ll look at how we want to play.

“I also feel that a large change up in player position has contributed to a lot of what has happened so far this season and that’s what we’ll be working on in the next few weeks. It’s about looking at what positions we want them to stay in and keep developing them.”

Bude have had to play a number of untested players so far, and Hodges admits getting the blend right has not been straightforward.

He said: “The new boys haven’t got a lot of experience so there’s bound to be some nerves.

“It’s difficult to settle, especially if some of our more experienced players are out, and that in turn puts more pressure on the experienced boys in the team to contribute more. But hopefully we can have a settled side and go on a winning run.”

Bude head to North Devon to tackle a side who enjoyed an excellent first season at this level.

However they’ve found life much tougher this time around, winning just one of their eight outings.

Their cause hasn’t been helped by the loss of key players, but will take inspiration from last year’s fixture at Unicorn Park which saw them win 34-12 in the penultimate game of the season.

Hodges believes the outcome of the game, will be decided by how his side deal with the home forwards.

He said: “They were a niggly and gnarly bunch last year, but we need to play how we want to play. They’ll try and take us away from that, and if we let them do that then they could upset us.

“They’re very gritty up font but it’s something we’re used to dealing with.

“I want to see a bit of composure, try and control the game, play in the areas we want to play in and just be reasonably smart.

“Executing the right moves at the right time has been lacking a bit, but that’ll only come from having control of the game anyway. If we can do that, especially up front, then we should see a positive result.”