PLYMOUTH Albion expect hooker Joe Clark to recover from a shoulder injury in time to face Doncaster at Brickfields this Saturday.

Clark, who has been battling it out for the number two shirt with James Owen this season, had to leave the field after 50 minutes of last weekend's 26-15 defeat at Moseley with what looked like a nasty-looking injury.

However, it appears Clark's problem is not as bad as first feared.

"His shoulder is bruised, but not severely and so we expect him to be okay for this weekend," said Albion chairman of rugby Graham Dawe.

Albion prop Martin Rice has missed the last three matches with a bruised shoulder, but Dawe says Clark's problem is not quite the same.

"The bruising is in the same position as Martin's," he said. "But Martin's was a lot worse."

If Clark does not recover in time then Albion's only other options to join Owen in the matchday squad would be to either turn to teenage rookie Rupert Freestone or Dawe himself.

Freestone, who only turned 18 at the end of April, has never played a senior league game and only converted to hooker from prop this summer.

Dawe has not been able to play since damaging his neck against Leeds last April.

Meanwhile, Albion number eight Kyle Marriott insists nobody at the club is panicking, despite the fact that they have only won two out of their opening six matches this season.

Those two victories were both at home, meaning Albion have yet to win on their travels this season.

They made a great start at Moseley, taking the lead after just four minutes, and dominating the first quarter of the match. But they did not build on their start and Moseley came back to inflict a seventh, successive away defeat on Dawe's side.

"We got the start we wanted, but unfortunately we didn't follow that up in the rest of the game," said Marriott.

"We gave away too many penalties.

"At times there are some unavoidable penalties, but we will have to look at the video and see where those errors did occur.

"It is always tough away from home, but defeat was something we did not want.

"We had raised the bar performance-wise against Exeter and the Cornish Pirates, but we always knew it was going to be tough at Moseley.

"We did some things well, but we are going to have to take a long, hard look at ourselves and look to turn it around again."

He added: "We have a great bunch of guys in our squad and each time we go out to play a game, we go out to win.

"But it is a tough league and you can't win every game.

"However, there is a long way to go in the season, so it isn't time to panic yet.

"We are only six games in – which is not even a third of the season – so there is definitely no reason to panic."

All teams who finish in the top eight after 22 league games will have a chance of promotion, with the Championship being decided this year by end of season play-offs.

However, the bottom four of the 12 team league with battle it for the one relegation place.

Albion are currently fourth from bottom in the table, but they could move into the top eight this Saturday if they beat struggling Doncaster.

"There is work to be done and we need to put things right for Doncaster," said Marriott. "It is vitally important we react to Saturday's defeat.

"We will look at ourselves and then it is about moving on to the Doncaster game and channelling our focus on that.

"We are still gelling as a side and I think there is more to come.

"We will work hard in training this week and then we will just have to see how we far against a physical Doncaster side."

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