Glad you had fun!
I'll try and throw out some tips off the top of my head.
Sounds like my 5E players. Are you and your players used to "OSR style" combat? The importance of tactics before battle rather than during takes some getting used to, especially at low-levels.
Oh, and during play, instead of just utilizing the combat options in the book, have them narrate specifically what their character is doing and hand out bonuses on the fly if clever. I find that it makes things more engaging and exciting than just narrating vanilla attack rolls, especially since misses come up often.
And speaking of misses, make sure to not narrate them all as single swings that completely whiff! Most "misses" are incredibly skilled back and forth with no one landing a fatal blow after all.
As a DM in C&C, if you're thinking, "Hmmm, don't think that's going to happen, but I'll give you a shot." to a player's action, that's when you make skill rolls. If it's anything easier/much harder, than you're better off narrating with common sense. Makes the game run lightening quick while establishing credibility.
For instance, if the Rouge and the lightly-armored Fighter wants to climb a tall tree, much more fun to just narrate how the Rouge whips up the branches at lighting speed while the Fighter lags behind. Now if it's raining hard at night, maybe it's more fun to let the Rouge succeed automatically (they can climb "impossible surfaces" after all), but make the Fighter roll a check. If the Fighter is in heavy armor, you might just say, "No".