Wisbech coach Leonard Veenedaal admitted his men need to be more ruthless going forward - despite them bagging a 19-10 victory over rivals Wymondham on the opening day of the Eastern Counties season.

Veenendaal called on his side to produce a positive performance after a disappointing pre-season, but was left ruing missed opportunities that could have given his side a bigger win on a rainy first day.

Wisbech began on the front foot and a break from centre James Napier found winger James Patrick who beat three defenders to power over the try line.

Shortly after, talismanic skipper Solomon Prestidge extended Wisbech’s lead when he crashed over and Harry Newman guided over the conversion to give the hosts a 12-0 lead at the break.

The home side absorbed some early second-half pressure but excellent defensive work kept the visitors at bay.

Napier found his second try of the afternoon after side-stepping through the visitors’ defence and the trusted boot of Jack Malkin added the extra points.

Wisbech were forced to make a number of changes in the last quarter of the game and with the foot coming off the gas, Wymondham ran in a couple of late tries to reduce the deficit, leaving Veenendaal feeling frustrated that his men didn’t secure a bigger win.

“It was a solid first game of the season but by no means to the standard we as a squad have set for ourselves,” he said.

“Too often when we made the breaks we were guilty of not finding support; turning a 90 per cent scoring opportunity into a 20 per cent scoring opportunity. We have a lot of work to do improving our decision making and learn to be more clinical and ruthless.”

Wisbech will to build on their opening day triumph with a win at Newmarket on Saturday (3pm).