AFTER starting the new Northern Premier League season with two defeats, Mark Duffy says his Warrington Rylands players must “lick their wounds” and learn the lessons.

However, he admits they must be prepared for some short-term pain as they adapt to his way of playing, including a change in formation.

Blues have endured a fruitless opening week in the NPL Premier Division, including collapsing from 3-0 up to lose 4-3 to Ashton United in their first home game of the season on Tuesday night.

Summer signings Ntumba Massanka and Jake Burton scored their first competitive goals for the club to join Matt Regan on the scoresheet as Rylands flew out of the traps, but four goals from Ashton striker Jason Gilchrist allowed them to complete a stunning turnaround.

That came just three days after a 1-0 opening-day loss at Hebburn Town and ahead of Whitby Town’s visit to Gorsey Lane on Saturday, Duffy said it was always going to take his players time to adjust to playing with the three-man defence he prefers.

“We’re playing a new formation and a back three can be difficult to get used to,” he said.

“It’s going to take time – it’s not something that can really be done in six weeks of pre-season when we’re training twice a week.

“It is taking time and there’s lots of things to implement, like wide centre-backs going into wide areas and defending one-on-one and keeping the line high and aggressive.

“When balls come into our box, they won’t come deep into our box as when your line is out of the box, it’s much less of a problem.

“Because they’re a young group, they naturally drop deeper because of the nervousness, which I get – I’ve been a young player myself.

“That’s where we need the older, more experienced players to pull them in.

“We’ve got to lick our wounds, we’ll train on Thursday and prepare the lads for Whitby.”

Following his sending-off at Hebburn, midfielder Liam Morris starts a three-match ban on Saturday which also rules him out of trips to Lancaster City on Tuesday night and Morpeth Town on August 24.

However, Rylands are set to be boosted by the return of skipper James Neild at the weekend after he missed a chunk of pre-season and the opening two league fixtures with a hip injury and Duffy admits his influence has been missed.

“James will be back on Saturday – he was touch-and-go for Tuesday but we didn’t want to risk him too much as he’s our captain and a massive player for us,” he said.

“The quality, energy and leadership skills he has, we do miss them when we’re under the cosh a bit.”