PLYMOUTH Albion boss Graham Dawe was frustrated his team did not get their first win of the 2010/11 Championship season at home to Worcester Warriors.

Albion led from the third minute to the 61st but in the end had to settle for only a bonus point against the former Premiership side, who were able to bring on six internationals in the second half when things were not going their way.

"It was a good performance but ultimately it is about getting wins," said Dawe, who was celebrating his 51st birthday on Saturday.

"We did get one point, which is a bonus, but it is frustrating we did not get the four points."

Dawe, who had seen his team conceded eight tries in a 51-3 defeat at Bedford the week before, added: "We got off to a great start with a try under the sticks. We could not have asked for more and that sort of gave us the belief we needed to keep pressing and keep our game going.

"We did make errors, but defensively we looked assured. We kept our width in defence — and long may that continue."

Albion did not appear in a hurry to kick the ball out at the end when they had won it back from Worcester in their own 22. It appeared they did not want to settle for just a bonus until eventually, after failing to make any real ground, Davies kicked it dead.

Dawe said: "You have to get the balance right. We would have been gutted if we had not got a bonus, but we trust our defence and with the fresh legs on we felt we could puncture them."

Dawe said it was not hard to pick his team up after last week's shocker at Bedford.

"The scoreboard was poor viewing, but there was some good points in the performance," he said.

"And playing at home this week made a big difference.

"I thought our support was brilliant. They gave the team a rousing reception after finishing the warm-up."

Albion's task now is to repeat Saturday's performance this coming Sunday when they travel to Nottingham.

"Consistency is what you strive for in every rugby team," said Dawe. "Nottingham is going to be a really hard game, especially at their place."

Worcester's head coach Richard Hill praised his former Bath and England team-mate Dawe for the way he motivated his team on Saturday.

"They (Plymouth) were a completely different side to the team last week," said Hill, who claimed only his second win over his former team-mate in five attempts.

"Graham Dawe had them fired up and they deserved their bonus point,

"They tackled their hearts out and their physicality in defence and willingness to tackle with our lack of finishing made for a tight game in the end."

Hill felt his team did not show enough patience at Brickfields.

"It was a hard game, but we made hard work of it," he said. "I could sense the pressure. The side had not won away from home in the league for some time and you could feel that.

"The players were trying to score too early. We needed more patience and more composure and to earn the right to go wide in attack.

"We certainly made heavy weather of it, although that is slightly unfair to Plymouth who, after their 50-point thrashing last week, really fronted up."

Hill added: "The first half we let go of the ball after a few phrases and it took a while before we went forward.

"We had lots of possession but were not actually going too far forward.

"Plymouth's defence was going side to side and shuffling us towards the touchlines and waiting for us to make mistakes, which we did.

"The second half we made sure we got more go forward. Plymouth were physically good in defence and it took a bit of brute force with the forwards doing the damage before we gave it to the backs. It was a lesson learnt."

ALBION'S development team — Devonport Warriors — beat their Redruth counterparts 36-13 at Brickfields yesterday.

Robin Copeland (2), Sam Matavesi, Jamie Tripcony and Declan MacDonnell scored tries for the Warriors, with Alex Jeffery kicking the rest of the points.