Albion 12 Nottingham 17

As I sat in the stand before kick-off I could have been forgiven for thinking that this was going to be an easy match to win. The weather conditions were just about perfect for the playing of the game and I had predicted a 32 - 8 win. 

Albion had just become the only side this season to do the double over Pirates and were fielding an unchanged side. Nottingham had only won two matches away from home and their recent performance was not god to say the least.

Once the match started all thoughts of an easy win seemed to go out of the window with Nottingham being the first team to trouble the scoreboard. Nottingham were up for the match and wanted show Albion that they were not going to rollover.

Many players put in a good performance but the team did not perform as a unit as it had last weekend. We seemed to suffer from more than the usual number of injuries and also did not get the run of the ref. Tim Matthias was sin binned at the end of the first half allowed back on and then asked to leave again for 5 minutes before being allowed back on.

With both teams off the pitch getting ready to come on to start the match Ed Lewsey could be seen practicing passes off the ground with Nigel Cane.

Nottingham spent 7 of the first 9 minutes deep in the Albion half and after three or four unsuccessful attempts to get the ball across the line finally made it across in the 9th minute for ex Albion player Tom Barlow, who scored 784 league points in an Albion shirt, to add the extras.

Within 3 minutes it looked as thought Nic Sestaret was going to score in the left corner but was beaten to the ball by the Nottingham who fell on the ball and despite Nic attempting to get the ball, on his feet, was penalised for knocking the ball on. While those in the stand and Nic by the looks of him thought that we should have had the penalty for holding on.

Albion had to wait until 20 minutes into the half for their first score. The move started outside the 22 with Chris Lowrie taking the ball off the back of a maul and taking the ball to 20 metres out before another maul formed. This time it was James Owen who dropped back off the maul before passing to Ed Lewsey and quickly along the line for Nic to get his 28th league try of the season in the corner.

With the ball only 2 metres in from the left hand touch line Regardt van Eyk was unable to collect any extras.

Notting increaser the gap again within 3 minutes as Tom Barlow popped a penalty goal after Albion were penalised for not rolling away. 5 - 10

Coming to the end of the first half Tim Mathias was sin binned for allegedly punching although again this was not seen in the stand.

With the half time score at 5 - 10 and Albion a man down there must have been some discussions going on in the Albion changing room. Albion were unchanged at half time. 

With the first scrum being held 6 minutes into the second half Tim Mathias was called back onto the pitch. It seemed a bit short but I reckoned he had been off for about 4 minutes before the half time whistle and close to 6 minutes in the second half. So Albion were back up to 15 men but only for a minute when discussions went on between the ref and touch judge and Tim was asked to leave the pitch.  He spent a further 5 minutes on the side lines and by my reckoning a full 15 minutes off the pitch.

With the clock approaching 20 minutes in the second half Nic Rouse was sin binned for an offence at the maul, possibly pulling down but there was no signal from the ref.

With a man over on the pitch and a 10/11 man driving maul Albion were held out by Nottingham and gained a scrum on the 5 metre line.

Albion were able to take advantage of the extra man when Nottingham were clearing from their line the ball was picked up by Chris Lowrie who passed the ball out to the left where Nic Sestaret made progress but on the tackle the ball was quickly recycled to the centre and Regardt had an easy run for the posts to collect 7 points with the extras to take Albion into lead for the first time in the match 12 - 10.

Ben Gulliver had been down a number of times and finally left the pitch 28 minutes into the second half with Gareth Evans replacing him. Gareth took up the position of flanker with multi talented Tom Hayes moving back to the second row.

With the 40 minutes of the match played Albion slipped up in the Nottingham 22 the visitors broke out for the Albion line. Whilst Albion did manage to get back to defend the move Notting were up in numbers and made it count with prop Nigel Hall on the end of the line and crossing the whitewash on the right before placing the ball behind the posts for Tom Barlow to convert.

Albion had 4 minutes in which to try and get the lead back but did not make it.  The players were visibly upset and gutted at the result and spent longer than normal in their final huddle before returning to the changing room.

The feeling around the ground was what had happened to the side we had last week.  Whilst from the first half performance Nottingham deserved to be be in the lead the second half was more balanced or even in Albion's favour. Albion had a number of chances that they should have made more of and the try scored by Nigel Hall was lucky.

Albion need to pick up their performance and take the lessons learnt from the match to Bedford next week. There are still seats on the coach travelling up there and leaving Plymouth at 7:30am.  Why not join us on the last trip of the season.

Match Day sponsor's man of the match was presented to Chris Lowrie who also picked up the alllbion man of the match for last week against Pirates. He was gutted about the result and did not have his usual smile on.

Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Scott Zimmerman, Mike Lewis, Ben Gulliver, Tom Hayes, Brett Stroud, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Matt Newman, Sila Va'Enuku, Arran Cruickshanks, Andy Williams(used), Graham Dawe, Gareth Evans(used), Dan Smith(used)

Scorers :- Tries Nic Sestaret Regardt van Eyk Conversions Regardt van Eyk Sin Bin Tim Mathias

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