London Welsh may be fourth in the Championship table but with the second half of the season underway assistant coach Mike Friday insists there’s still plenty of work to do if the Exiles are to challenge come the play-offs.

After back-to-back defeats to Worcester and Bedford, Welsh made a welcome return to winning ways last Sunday with a 23-16 win over the Pirates at Old Deer Park, and now travel to Birmingham & Solihull on Sunday (2pm).

“I would have us as a six out of ten; we’ve shown glimpses of what we can do so far this season, but we haven’t really put an 80 minute performance together, both in attack and defence,” said Friday.

“We’ve shown signs of doing that for 20-30 minute spurts and it’s very ‘work in progress’ but the players are under no illusion as they start the next phase of their conditioning and we move in to Christmas and New Year that the season is starting again and we need to be far better for the experiences we’ve had in the first half of the season.”

Six Aled Thomas penalties and a Dominic Shabbo try was enough to overcome the Pirates and cement Welsh’s place in the top four, in a game played out in sodden conditions. For Friday, it was a result that showed a different side to Welsh.

“What you’re seeing is a London Welsh team that’s evolving and understanding how to win in different circumstances,” he said.

“If we’d played that game six or seven weeks ago we may not have got the result, but that’s testament to where this team is building towards and how it’s learning on its journey.

“That’s where supporters and us as coaches need to be patient because it’s not about peaking now, it’s about delivering come spring time.”

Welsh had to battle it out against the Pirates, who by contrast went into the game having won their last four Championship matches. The Exiles led 12-3 at the break but Chris Burgess’ second half try brought the away side back into the game, only for Shabbo’s late try to seal the points.

“We’re pleased with the result, but we’ve looked at the DVD and there are a number of things we could have done better, particularly ruck entry,” said Friday.

“Some of our kick counter attacking could have been better. There were opportunities for us as a backline to really try and counter attack as a group.

“The Cornish Pirates are a form team; they’re very hard to break down. They’re up the top of the league for a very good reason and they made life very difficult in the rain.”

Victory against the Pirates was the culmination of a tough four weeks for the Exiles during which they also faced promotion rivals Worcester and Bedford, as well as last season’s runners up Bristol.

Welsh emerged with two wins and two losing bonus points, but Friday believes it should have been more.

“We’re disappointed that we haven’t come out with four wins, because when we look at each game in its individual right we should have won each of those games,” he said.

“But it’s all part of the learning journey the boys are on and we’ll be better for that experience, and it illustrates how hard we need to work in our terms of our conditioning, game understanding and skill elements, if we want to compete come the end of the season.”

Welsh will look to keep up the pressure on Bedford and the Cornish Pirates when they travel to Birmingham & Solihull on Sunday.

The Exiles ran in four tries in a 33-9 victory when the sides met at Old Deer Park earlier in the season and although the Bees also went down to a heavy defeat at Nottingham last weekend, Friday insists Welsh will be taking nothing for granted.

“You get out what you put in and our mindset has to be that we’re going to work harder than the opposition – that’s a given and should never be taken for granted,” he said.

“If we don’t turn up and we don’t play, they will make us pay, especially at their home ground. They’ve upset some teams, like Bristol, so they’re capable of turning teams over if you don’t pay them respect and you don’t surpass their work rate.”