NEW head coach Tom Heeks is “very pleased” with the manner in which Drifters have started the season as he attempts to grow the rugby club.

After their opening day defeat at Hungerford, the Farnham Common outfit have revelled in a four-match winning streak which includes a 39-17 victory over Abingdon on Saturday.

Heeks is delighted with how his team are putting into practice what they developed in pre-season, and he explained the objective for the season is to finish in the top two of the Berks Bucks & Oxon Premier.

“We had a blip in the first game against Hungerford where we felt we should have won, but since then we’ve been very good and I’m very pleased,” he told the Observer.

“We changed the structure a little and the boys have come to terms with it. We’ve got pace in the side and play slightly wider.

“The main objective is the top two and lose a few games as possible, two or three would be absolutely excellent.”

However, Heeks warned: “The difficulty with this league is consistency as people have other things to do. People tend to move away from the game in the area in general, but we want to get back to having three teams out every week.

“Teams change week on week but we have managed to keep the core so it’s easier to coach and focus on the structure.

“The main target now is to grow the squad because we lost five or six players to other clubs higher up the leagues.”

Stuart Ashton scored a brace of tries against Abingdon with George Kalinowski and Josh White also touching down. Olly Ashton added 19 points from the tee.

Heeks commented: “The first 35 minutes was the best rugby I’ve seen from the boys both in attack and defence. It was very good.

“We conceded a very disappointing try after through missed tackles, but patches in the second-half were good and we defended excellently throughout.

“Abingdon will improve throughout the season with a number of very good players, but so will we. We deserved to win and I’m very pleased.”

Drifters face a top of the table clash away at league leaders Swindon College Old Boys this Saturday, and Heeks is confident his team are up for the challenge.

“We actually came down with them last season so the boys are really up for it,” he said. “It’s kind of the yard stick of the season and a challenge for the boys.”