PLYMOUTH Albion's injury jinx against Exeter Chiefs struck again on Saturday as exciting young full-back Mark Lee broke his ankle in their final British & Irish Cup game.

It was the fifth serious injury Albion have suffered against the Chiefs in the last two seasons.

In December Darren Clayton had to be stretchered off at Brickfields having suffered ankle ligament damage, while in the game at Sandy Park in September Geoff Griffiths broke his foot.

And last season against the Chiefs, Griffiths broke his jaw and David Palu suffered a horrific knee injury, which brought an early end to his Albion career.

Albion had been worried about picking up injuries in this meaningless cup game, where neither side was able to qualify for the knockout stages.

It led to them leaving out some of their likely starters for next week's must-win final league match against Doncaster.

Captain Kyle Marriott, prop Martin Rice, top points scorer Kieran Hallett, top try scorer Ben Mercer, scrum-half Ruairi Cushion and flanker Rory Watts-Jones were among the players not to even make it into Albion's 22 to face the Chiefs, while Keni Fisilau, Tom Skelding, Gary Kingdom and Lee were only on the bench.

It was just ironic that it was one of their regular first team squad members this season that did get injured.

Former Ivybridge Community College pupil Lee, who has come through Albion's development team, has either started or been on the bench for nearly all their matches this season.

The youngster, who will turn 20 tomorrow, has enjoyed a tremendous first full season in the Championship.

So the injury, which was a pure accident, is a big blow both for him and the club.

It was pretty frustrating as he had only been on the field for 25 minutes after coming on to play fly-half after Alex Davies had picked up a slight knock.

The only meagre consolation is that full-back is one of the positions Albion do have some strength in depth.

However, this was definitely a game promotion play-off chasers Albion could have done without just seven days before their biggest match of the season.

Albion head to Doncaster this Saturday knowing they need to win to guarantee their place in the top eight and avoid a relegation fight.

At least they now know what areas they need to work on this week after taking on a full strength Exeter side.

The Chiefs had used their previous four cup matches to give all their squad players a run out, but against Albion they turned to their big guns.

However, Exeter, who had famously lost in the league at Brickfields in December, struggled to break Albion's mix-and-match team down, which should give Graham Dawe's side confidence.

The Chiefs dominated possession and territory but Albion's defence was top notch and denied them time after time.

It was only in the 13th minute of injury-time that Exeter managed to get a fourth try and give the scoreline a more flattering look.

Albion's problem on Saturday was that they could not win any line-out ball.

Exeter demolished their line-out, which meant Albion struggled to get any field position.

They got plenty of penalties, but every time they kicked for touch they could not win their line-out.

If Albion can get their set piece working like normal at Doncaster and defend the way they did against Exeter then there is no reason why they can't return home with the win they need from South Yorkshire next week.

Exeter played with the wind first half and they deservedly went in at the break 14-0 up.

Albion, who handed Dan Collier a first start, full home debuts to Steve Johns and David Morton and Sione Tu'ipulotu a first run at full-back, struggled to get out of their half in the first 40 minutes.

Exeter could have opened the scoring in the second minute when they were awarded a penalty but Gareth Steenson put his kick wide of the far post.

Albion held Exeter up over the line on five minutes before defending a five-metre scrum and line-out.

The Chiefs were beginning to get frustrated until they eventually found a way through on 25 minutes with former Albion favourite Nic Sestaret. Steenson converted the Frenchman's try.

And on 35 minutes the visitors added a second try with Chad Slade going over in the right corner following a five-metre scrum after Albion had again held Exeter up over the line.

Steenson brilliantly converted from the touchline to put his side 14-0 up.

Albion came out a lot better second half.

Davies had the chance to cut Exeter's lead with a penalty on 44 minutes, but his long-range effort fell short.

But two minutes later Albion did open their account when Geoff Griffiths, playing his first game in five months, dived over in the corner after the home side took a quick line-out.

Davies could not add the conversion.

Albion, though, failed to build on that score and on 53 minutes the impressive Hayden Thomas put Exeter back in control with a try in the right corner after he broke off a maul to make it 19-5.

The home side did have some chances after that and on 65 minutes Exeter had flanker James Scaysbrook sin-binned for pulling down a good Albion maul.

Albion had a penalty close to the line but, with their line-out not working, they opted for a tap penalty but messed it up.

There might not have been anything resting on this game other than pride, but there was certainly a lot of passion on the pitch and at times it nearly boiled over, with Exeter sensibly replacing hooker Neil Clark on 73 minutes.

But all the heat was taken out of the game when Lee went down injured after he was tackled by Mark Foster.

It was not Foster's fault, Lee's foot just got stuck the wrong way, but immediately everyone knew it was a bad injury.

With 80 minutes up on the clock the referee could have ended the game then but he waited the seven minutes for Lee to receive treatment and be stretchered off before playing injury-time. And with the last move of the game the visitors scored in the left corner through Thomas, which Steenson converted.