HEAD coach Rob Bray hailed a ‘massive’ win for Droitwich Spa as they kick-started their season with an 18-13 victory over Nuneaton Old Edwardians.

After losing their two opening games in the Midlands Division Two West (South), Spa gave themselves a huge confidence boost by seeing off the league’s early pacesetters.

Victory also lifted the Worcestershire outfit up to ninth in the table.

Bray said: “We didn’t have an ideal start because we lost our captain Mark Strutt in the warm-up with a calf strain.

“But we also had two young guys in Joe Melfah and Chris Steele making their first starts and they did well.

“The game was quite attritional and we were trailing at half-time but we raised our game after the break.

“A lot of people had been quite angry after we lost the first two games and felt they had to put that right, so this is a massive win for us.

“Hopefully we can use this result as a platform to build on for the rest of the season.”

Dave Edwards scored Spa’s only try in the first half, as Old Eds had powered into a lead with a penalty and two touch downs.

However, a Dave Oliver penalty kept them in touching distance going into the second period.

Melfah had a part to play as Spa took the game to Droitwich and Ben Rean galloped over to score a try, which was converted by Oliver, in the corner and seal victory.

Droitwich will be without captain Strutt for two to three weeks as he recovered from his injury.

Spa are set to play Oswestry in the cup on Saturday and resume the league on Saturday, October 10, at Pinley.