Plymouth Albion 6 Moseley 9

PLYMOUTH Albion's dismal run of form continued when they were beaten at home by Moseley.

The loss to the Birmingham side has dragged Albion into the battle to avoid relegation as Jersey also won, while Doncaster's match with London Scottish was postponed.

Albion, with just one league win to their name in four months, will wonder how they did lose this match as they had enough possession and territory to claim a victory in the Championship fixture.

But their decision-making was poor, while fly-half Paul Roberts also missed a couple of crucial kicks at goal.

It was Moseley's first win in five attempts at Brickfields and they sealed the four points thanks to an injury-time penalty by Glyn Hughes, who had kicked their other points.

Albion failed to score a try for a third match running, with Roberts accounting for their six points with two first half penalties.

There was sunshine at Brickfields when the game started, which is something that has been in short supply for Albion home games this season.

After heavy rain the day before, Albion had sanded their pitch to soak up any standing water and it looked in surprisingly good condition considering how it had looked after the club had played Rotherham a fortnight ago in torrential conditions.

Albion were without dual registered front-row forward Luke Cowan-Dickie and back Henry Slade, who were required to play for Exeter in the LV=Cup, but they welcomed back captain Sean-Michael Stephen, fly-half Paul Roberts, hooker Jon Vickers and lock Brett Beukeboom, who were rested for last week's cup match against Munster A.

Albion, playing towards the Stoke end first half, looked like they could have scored in the first minute when Keni Fisilau put Stephen away on the halfway line but the referee ruled the pass to the Canadian was forward.

The home side, with just one league win to their name since the end of September, looked up for the game and they had a great spell of pressure in Moseley's 22 in the opening six minutes but they could not convert it into any points.

Moseley nearly shocked Albion in the 10th minute by breaking from a scrum on their own 22 with number eight Ben Pienaar and running nearly the length of the field, but they messed up the final pass and the chance was wasted.

Albion, whose line-out and kicking was a lot better than in recent weeks, took the lead in the 14th minute when Roberts kicked a penalty after Moseley were penalised at a scrum close to their line.

Moseley had a good chance from a lineout 22 metres out. They went for a blindside move and hooker Sam Wilkes nearly got through but he was ruled to have put a foot into touch 15 metres from the try line.

Albion were playing much better than they had in their last home match but they were unable to add to their sole penalty.

And in the 26th minute Moseley levelled the match when fly-half Glyn Hughes kicked a long-range penalty.

In the final minute of the half, Sam Hocking thought he had scored following pressure from a lineout, but he was ruled to have been held up.

From the resultant five-metre scrum, Albion were awarded a penalty and Roberts kicked it to give his side a 6-3 half-time lead.

HALF-TIME: Albion 6 Moseley 3

After the break Moseley fly-half Hughes tried an optimistic drop-goal that did not threaten the posts and then his side knocked on the resultant drop-out.

Albion did have a great chance a few minutes later after Rupeni Nasiga put Rhodri McAtee free but the home side could not find the final pass and knocked on inside the 22.

The home side nearly scored when they charged down a Brad Hunt kicked on his own line, but Moseley just got back to ground the ball. However, they did give away a five-metre scrum.

From the scrum, Moseley were penalised. Albion went for goal but Roberts missed the three points.

Albion won another penalty on 55th minutes and this time went for the corner. From it they got another five-metre scrum. They were then awarded a free-kick, which they took quickly, but Moseley infringed and Michael Powell sin-binned.

Albion ran the resultant penalty but wasted it and Moseley nearly counterattacked.

Herbie Stupple was called into the action for Albion on 66 minutes. It was his first appearance at Brickfields since the first match of the season after spending four months on the sidelines with a broken shoulder.

Moseley had the chance to level the game on 71 minutes when they were awarded a penalty, but Hughes missed the long-range kick.

But Hughes did level the scores four minutes later when he had a far easier effort after good pressure by the visitors.

Albion had the chance to go straight back in front when they were awarded a penalty on the left but Roberts missed it.

And in injury-time, Moseley got a scrum in Albion's 22 and drove them back 10 metres before winning a penalty, that Hughes put over to give his side a 9-6 lead.

Many thought that would be the last play of the game, but referee Campbell decided there was still time for Albion to rescue the match.

The home side did well and won the restart and a penalty, but, unbelievably, Albion turned down the kick at goal and ran the penalty only to lose the ball and the match as Moseley simply kicked the ball out of play to end the game.

TEAMS

Albion: 15 Rhodri McAtee, 14 Toby Howley-Berridge, 13 Keni Fisilau, 12 Bevon Armitage, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Paul Roberts, 9 Paul Rowley, 1 Jack Andrew, 2 Jon Vickers, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 4 Brett Beukeboom, 5 Rupeni Nasiga, 6 Sean-Michael Stephen (c), 7 Sam Hocking. 8 Aaron Carpenter. Reps: Ruairi Cushion, Jack Arnott, Ben Rogers, David Morton, Tom Cowan-Dickie, Herbie Stupple, Sam Matavesi

Moseley: 15 Billy Robinson, 14 Simon Hunt, 13 Greg King, 12 Anthony Carter, 11 Brad Hunt, 10 Glyn Hughes, 9 Sam Brown, 1 Stefan Thorp, 2 Sam Wilkes, 3 Ben Evans, 4 Addison Lockley, 5 Michael Powell (capt), 6 Neil Mason, 7 Ollie Robinson, 8 Ben Pienaar. Reps: Danny Herriott, Buster Lawrence, Adam Caves, Tom Warren, Ben Pons, Scott Armstrong, Ollie Thomas

Referee: Ross Campbell (RFU)