ALBION chairman of rugby Graham Dawe admitted his side have plenty to work on after suffering a 21-6 Championship loss to Doncaster Knights at Brickfields on Saturday.

Since beating bottom of the table Birmingham-Solihull on the opening day of the season, Albion have won just once in their last six matches.

That poor record leaves them third from bottom of the standings with nearly a third of the regular season gone.

More worryingly for their supporters, Albion's last two performances have been poor with Saturday's display against a previously winless Doncaster the worst so far this campaign.

The two sides were level 6-6 at half-time, but the visitors claimed the four points after outscoring their hosts two tries to nil, including a penalty try awarded on 58 minutes.

"Two wins from seven matches is better than no wins from seven," said Dawe. "But we need to address being able to win our primary possession and then ultimately winning our phase play quick ball. That is something we have not mastered.

"Saturday's match was two teams who were struggling to get any sort of flow into their game.

"You are always going to get opportunities and there are always going to be penalties both ways, but as far as building phases, there was no element of that at all because in the tackle area there was no quick ball at all.

"It was very similar to Moseley the week before. I don't know what the players are going to do about it – they are going to have to work at it."

Dawe added: "We got field position at the start and we controlled the game for a bit, but not for any continuity.

"There was no continuity in our game and throughout the game we failed to win any quick ball for whatever reason.

"We had a good start to the second half, but it was the same old story – we never won two quick tackle areas in a row and we were getting turned over. We then got sucked in for a penalty try, which was quite a big call, and that was the game.

"Doncaster are big and physical and a very strong side with a lot of power. They are not a bad team.

"I know they hadn't won up until Saturday, but they have got some pretty good players.

"Adam Kettle and Ngalu Tau came back, they are very astute at 10 in Ali Warnock and Hudson Tonga'uiha in the centre caused us a lot of problems."

Albion's loss was all the more worse after utility back Sione Tu'ipulotu was forced to leave the pitch with a serious looking knee injury on 51 minutes.

The loss of the Tongan international in any games over the coming weeks would be a blow. He left the ground on crutches.

"We don't know how bad the injury is at the moment, but it is sore," said Dawe.

One indication of how bad Albion's performance on Saturday was came in the shape of supporters leaving the ground early.

A steady, but increasing wave of dissatisfaction spread around Brickfields as the game slipped away from the hosts.

"You always get people leaving early and no doubt a lot of it is related to the performance and the result of their team," said Dawe.

"People feel very passionately about the club - they come with high hopes and expectations and they like to show their feelings."

Next up for Albion is a trip to Coventry on Friday night where they will be determined to avoid a third successive defeat.

"You don't want to lose two in a row, let alone three," said Dawe. "I have had some bad experiences up there in my playing time and going to Coventry on a Friday night is certainly something to focus the mind, but we have just got to digest this game first."