Plymouth A …17 Ampthill …5
AT the third time of asking Plymouth Albion won their first home game of the season when they beat third in the table Ampthill in miserable conditions at Brickfields.
Plymouth's win was built around a very solid defensive performance in a game that won't live long in the memory.
And while Albion are now up and running, Plymouth head coach Kieran Hallett is only too aware that there is a long way to go for the side to reach its full potential.
He said: “It's a relief to get that first home win but there were elements of our game where we could have done a lot better.
“We gave away two silly yellow cards and the penal- ty count against us was far too high.
“Saying that, our lineout was much improved and we more than matched a very strong Ampthill outfit up front.
“Confidence wise this win will be a big boost for us.”
After a quiet opening where most of the game was played around the halfway line, Plymouth took the lead when centre Dean Squire dived over in the corner following a good break by flanker George Mills.
Shortly before the break Ampthill went down to 14 when No.8 Maama Molitika was yellow-carded for pulling down a maul that was heading for the tryline.
Albion put the resultant penalty into the corner and after a series of forward drives hooker Paul Davis scored by the posts with flyhalf Fraser Honey converting to make it 12-0 to the home side.
Shortly after half-time Plymouth found themselves down to 13 when flanker Sam Daly was followed into the sin-bin by lock John Kelly.
With the two man advantage Ampthill opened their account when wing Spencer Sutherland scored an overlap try in the corner.
Plymouth survived without conceding any more points while short of numbers and that proved crucial on their way to victory.
Ten minutes before fulltime Ampthill, for the second time in the game, went down to 14 when replacement prop Karl Garside was yellow-carded.
Late in the game Plymouth had a chance to go two scores clear but Honey was wide with a 25-metre penalty shot.
They did however make the game safe in stoppage time when replacement lock Rus Tuima powered over from close range for his first try in Albion colours.
