Bowden 17-16 Blackburn: Burn beaten but are unBow-ed

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DINO Radice believes his side are 'not too far away' from stringing the wins together after luck and misjudgement went against them in a narrow defeat at Bowden.

Played in horrendous conditions at the Greater Manchester club, Blackburn lost by a single point in the third game of the Regional 1 North West campaign.

Despite a second defeat in three outings, Radice says there are plenty of positives to focus on - but admitted there is also plenty of work to be done.

However, the director of rugby says what needs to be done is easily fixable as he continues to mould and gel his new-look squad having brought in a dozen new players during the summer.

"The conditions were horrendous but it was the same for both sides," said Radice. "As you would expect, there were a lot of drop balls because it just wasn't sticking but we made other needless errors.

"But we know these are areas we can work on, these are areas we can improve and that all comes down to hard work in training and a bit more concentration on match days."

Winger Harry Aaronson followed up his hat-trick of tries in last week's win against Wirral with another try with captain and openside flanker, Jamie Brookes, also touching down.

Full back Owen Pye converted both and also slotted over a penalty but Blackburn came up just short.

"It was a good effort from the boys and I can see them improving all the time," added Radice. "We just need to cut out the errors. If you are losing the ball 25 to 30 times a game, whether that is knock-ons, turnovers or poor refereeing decisions, there is every chance you are going to lose those games.

"We need to half the numbers but we are working on it.

"A lot of the players are still finding the feet and settling in at the club but they are a good bunch and there is a lot of promise and potential within the group. We are not too far away from stringing some wins together."

Radice also pointed out that Blackburn have already played the sides that finished third and fourth last season - losing 38-15 at Manchester before beating Wirral 31-22 last week.

"They were two sides fighting at the top of the table, pushing for promotion," said Radice. "So in that respect it has been a tough start but we have kept going."

The league has its first break of the season this weekend but Blackburn return to action at home to Stockport on October 4.

The free week will give Blackburn the chance to get key players fit again having missed the Bowden trip - not that Radice is a fan of their early season breaks.

"Three games and then we have a break, I don't understand it," he said. "We all just want to play rugby.

"But I do suppose it does give us the chance to get players fit who were solely missed in our game at Bowden."