‘As it happened’ Match Summary from the Plymouth Herald website ............. though I didn’t find it until afterwards! Big Thanks to the MSA for the score updates on Twitter. ...........
FIRST HALF REPORT 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.
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
"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."
The importance of this result is enormous. Donny are now two wins behind us and both London Scottish and Plymouth now have to start looking over their shoulders. If Jersey lose points for what appears to be a fiasco in their game against Roth, that could be even better news.
Jersey had a player sin binned, but sent on another effectively leaving them with 15 players on the pitch. Already hearing there's an official investigation under way
According to the Jersey website the main pitch was soaked and unplayable so they had to play on the second pitch. They suggested the supporters should put wellies on and watched it on but perhaps Rotherham thought they had to put wellies on to play - hence the fiasco. Just a thought.
Jersey had a player sin binned, but sent on another effectively leaving them with 15 players on the pitch. Already hearing there's an official investigation under way
Judging by some postings on the Championship board it seems that Roth were down to 14 and Jersey 13.......except Jersey were actually playing 14 for whatever reason. Difficult to tell from isolated postings partic when they appear a bit 'emotional'!
There seems to be a further twist when one of those sin binned Jersey players seemed to 'join in' an on-pitch fracas.....I had a bit of a 'wobbly' when I read that 'Maggs' was on the pitch joniing in a scrap until I realised it was Ashley and not Kevin ;D.......again, only based on isolated postings so no idea as to the veracity.
Post by Gerald the Fish on Jan 26, 2013 19:06:33 GMT
Bit of a scrappy game today,as it always seems to be when we go down there, but anyway I think we had the best of it and defended brilliantly for extended peroids of time. It was one of those games when both sides had opportunities to score but couldn't get the final pass away to get someone in the clear. Mose line out was excellent, I think we won all of ours and nicked about three of theirs. The ref couldn't control a scrum to save his life, which led to some of their penalties. That said the Albion kicker couldn't hit a cows backside at ten paces, so it wasn't really a threat. By contrast Glyn Huges scored the three for us only missing one from distance in a particularly windy moment. Importantly, we weren't 15 points down early on and were in the game right from the start. On the whole a good performance, solid, and reliable. This will be a good motivational game for us especially after last week. if we can grind out these games then I think we will be ok this season. Bring on the next lot.......come on Mose....ley.
Brilliant result and a relief after learning that Jersey had beaten Roth before our game was over. Will be interesting what develops from the Jersey game going forward. In the meantime come on Mose!!!
My first visit to Brickfields. Nice friendly supporters, great pasties, lovely ground.
Great win of course but it was a bit of a steal.
Considering we only got into their 22 about 3 times in the entire match, considering the penalty count against us in the scrums was enormous, considering our three quarters never looked like really breaking through (until Scott Armstrong came on for an exciting 20 minute cameo performance), and considering we lost Mike Powell for a yellow card, this was an unexpected but very welcome win.
Ben Pienaar had his best match so far for us and for the first time in my opinion looked interested and imposed himself on the game. Olly Robinson was again good and first to every breakdown. Simon Hunt got more involved today and plays far better when he stops arguing with the officials and having conversations with everyone on the touch line (or so it appears). Billy Robinson looking better at full back every game.
Everyone contributed today but we desperately need the 'senior' players to step up now. Mason, Evans, Powell, Pienaar, Hunt etc. Nice impact from our bench players which paid off in us being given the winning penalty.
We need to find out what is going on between our forwards and that referee. I don't think I've ever seen a penalty count go against our scrum in such a big way. We will get him again so we need to get that sorted.
Personally I still believe the team selection was wrong last week but I suppose the victory may make everyone else feel the selection is now justified.
Not the prettiest of games but a totally gutsy performance after the Llanelli debarcle. The team selection for the Llannelli game was not justified. Moseley are a confidence side and putting out a virtual scratch side for any game when a team are on a winning streak can have an adverse effect. It also possibly lost us £10,000. The side put out against Albion would have had a better chance of winning against Llanelli. Having said that, I cannot remember the 1st half of a game going so quickly as todays and the 2nd half seemed to go just as quickly apart from the minute or so it took Glyn to get the winning points from the superbly contrived penalty against Albion. The Albion fans were also gracious in defeat, one couple even stopping to tell us that if they were going to be beaten by any team they would rather it were Moseley than any one else. They said we were one of their favourite teams to visit. We ARE a good, well thought of club so lets get behind it to make sure it stays in the Championship. Once again, we had a good vocal following supporting the team who expressed their appreciaton to a man at the end of the game by sharing their ellation with the fans. Overall another enjoyable day with good friends. Doesn't a return journey go quicker and have a different feel to it when we win though? So..... Come on you Mooooose and Mose Fans.
Post by Littlemissminx on Jan 27, 2013 9:49:51 GMT
Really good day, good to see the guys never game up which is difficult not to do when a ref seems to penalise us for things that never happened ! Great team work Moseley bring on Bristol !!!
Urm! No mention from Mr Codling re player numbers on pitch in Jersey?! Jersey coach delighted with win Mr Codling upset with loss. No mention in Jersey press or Rotherham press!! Lets wait and see. It could be important for us!
The Jersey "extra player" thing appears to be horribly confused. From everything I have heard and read it was basically a sin-binned player running on to the pitch to "break up" a fight that was a long way from play. Don't think anything will come of it.
Great defence by the lads on Saturday. So important to win considering the result in Jersey. Symptomatic of a great team ethic and the boys really playing for the shirt. Excellent kicking under pressure from Glyn Hughes who held his nerve when Roberts fell apart.
My guess is that further wins against Scots and Donny will probably be enough for us but wouldn't put the mortgage on it. Looking at it I reckon Donny are now in real trouble if they don't beat Scots on Friday. However I reckon Plymouth will be dragged into it as they are on a really poor run of form. I'm hopeful that we'll end up safe with a fair bit to spare in 8th or 9th!
I don't feel too happy with RednBlacks "will probably be enough" thinking. We started the season with high hopes of an elevated end of season position but so far the bulk of the performances have attracted adjective phrases such as "could have", should have", "would have", "if only".
Might I proffer an alternative phrase, one which is - perhaps - a little hackneyed, but none-the-less profoundly fundamental and simply take each game, one by one, as it comes.
Never mind the mathematics, simply concentrate wholly on the next game game; play the strongest team possible, never mind the politics of selection - the bulk of the squad have had more than their fair chances of staking their claim to selection - and play to our strengths and play to win.
After each game we can then begin to review where the other teams are in FRONT of us. Note I say in FRONT of us. That is simply down to the fact that if we decide to adopt an onwards and upwards philosophy we WILL move onwards and upwards.
It may be too late for us to aspire to the championship title but if we can grasp by the mettle what we do have already and look to compose, consolidate and conquer all before us - just like a military campaign - then the satisfaction of that successful campaign will be all the more remarkable than the mythological phoenix itself.
Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose
