IT may seem an odd thing to think, but Wharfedale's head coach James Doherty was feeling strangely optimistic after their opening-day 41-15 National League Two North defeat at Macclesfield.

He said: "There were a lot of positives, and we were good for long periods of the game and absolutely outstanding for the first 20 minutes.

"What we need to do is to turn that into 80 minutes, but the scoreline didn't reflect the game at all.

"Their two late tries came when we got caught in our own 22 and when we overthrew a line-out, but there is nothing wrong with what we are trying to do.

"The problem is how we are doing it."

However, one thing that Doherty is equally adamant about it is that his side cannot afford to be so profligate with their handling errors and in conceding penalties.

He said: "We made 14 handling errors and gave away 12 penalties, and you will struggle to win games with double-digit statistics like that."

What also proved disruptive was an injury to loose-head prop Jimmy Meehan after just seven minutes.

However, Doherty said: "Stevie Graham came on and was absolutely fantastic in the way that he dug in for the rest of the match.

"We also lost centre Ben Booth with a cut head after 29 minutes that was bad enough so that he couldn't come back on.

"But Macclesfield didn't do anything that surprised us. They were a strong side and they were clinical."

Wharfedale play their first home league game of the season on Saturday at home to derby rivals Otley, who also lost last weekend by a similar score, in this case 42-21 when they entertained Stourbridge.

Macclesfield were relegated from National League One last season, and Doherty said: "We know a lot more about Otley, not least because we played them twice last season, although both sides will be different from then.

"However, as I said to the boys in the changing room last Saturday, it is a good time to play Otley on the back of a defeat for us when there were so many positives."