SALESBURY skipper Chris Riley wants his side to play with more patience after they were beaten by Earby in their Ribblesdale League season opener.

The Ribchester Road men earned promotion to Section A last season but fell to a home defeat against an Earby side who won just twice in 2016.

And Riley, whose side were dismissed for 123 batting first on Saturday, wants his side to learn the lessons from their loss ahead of this weekend’s trip to Feniscowles.

He said: “We need to be more patient.

“We lost an early wicket but then recovered quite well and if we bat our overs then it will give us a chance as our bowling is strong.

“We had them at 35-4 and 63-6 but it just got away from us and we bowled far too many wides. We had a plan on the pitch to bowl wicket to wicket and we did get a couple of LBW’s and the odd wicket but when the radar wasn’t on it resulted in a few more wides than we would have liked so we want to improve on that.”

Riley is eager for his side to bounce back this weekend when they entertain a Feniscowles side who lost to Euxton on day one.

The Salesbury skipper added: “It wasn’t the best start for us but you can’t judge too much by early season.

“What we don’t want to do is get into a habit of losing, the sooner that first win arrives the better.

“It will be a difficult game at Feniscowles as they are coming off the back of a narrow defeat last time but it is a game we want to win.”

For Earby captain Matt Garner the victory was a huge confidence boost for his side who face Section A opponents in their opening seven matches and entertain title favourites Settle on Saturday.

“We said at the start of the season that we wanted to be more competitive so to get a win is a great result for us,” Garner said.

“We have got a little bit of confidence now and that will help against Settle because they are a strong team.

“If we can stay in the game and make sure we come away with bonus points from teams like Settle then it shows that we are making progress.

“It was a really good start to the season for us and a good performance.”