Plymouth Albion 21 Old Elthamians 10
Unforced errors cost Elthamians dearly last Saturday as they were made to pay for not turning pressure into points at Plymouth Albion.
At a blustery and sodden Brickfields, OEs got off to a dream start with the game’s opening try after only five minutes.
Scrum-half Ollie Claxton broke down the blindside of a scrum and fed full-back Louis Brown who made ground before releasing winger Alex Brown through the line with an inside pass.
Ollie Bryant’s conversion gave the visitors an early 7-0 lead, but their joy was short-lived as Albion came back strongly through their industrious forwards, Koree Britton crashing over from a driven lineout in the visitors 22 on 17 minutes.
Shortly after, Plymouth took the lead for the first time, full-back Connor Eastgate getting on the end of a well-worked backs move on the edge of the OEs 22 before dummying a pass and touching down by the posts.
Eastgate converted his own try to give the home side a deserved 14-7 lead at the interval.
Despite playing into the strong wind in the second half, Elthamians enjoyed their best spell of the game after the restart, camping in the home 22 for the majority of the third quarter.
But despite poking and probing away at the Plymouth defence through multiple phases, they could find no way through the wall of white shirts and only had a Bryant penalty to show for their efforts.
The majority of the final quarter was a dour affair dominated by two miserly defences but entering the final stages of the game it was the Plymouth pack who again took a stranglehold on proceedings.
They drove into the Elthamians 22 with a succession of powerful phases of pick and go and were rewarded with their third and match-sealing try of the afternoon a minute before the end when replacement hooker Jamie Salter was driven over from another driven lineout in the visitors 22.
OEs are at home to Cambridge tomorrow.
