MARC KOTECZKY was delighted with Albion’s 31-24 win over Fylde on Saturday as it ended a long wait for him.
Prior to Saturday, the Australian utility back, who joined Albion last September, had never won a game at Brickfields before or tasted a league victory for the club.
Koteczky had missed Albion’s 33-20 win against Richmond on the opening day of this year’s campaign due to injury and their three league victories last season in the Championship.
His only previous taste of success in an Albion shirt had come against Jersey at St Peter in the British & Irish Cup.
But Koteczky, who was one of Albion’s try scorers on Saturday, admitted the team did make it hard for themselves against a fired up Fylde side.
“We did not make it easy for ourselves in the second half,” he said. “They came away with some pretty good tries.
“But we did back ourselves for the win.
“We kind of kept it tight towards the end and came away with the win.
“We have won twice now at home, which is good. The crowd really turned up on Saturday and we definitely heard them in the second half. They really pushed us towards the end. It was really good.”
Albion came close to getting the bonus point. Only a last-gasp tackle on Billy Searle denied them a fourth try late in the game.
But Koteczky said: “To be honest we weren’t really thinking about the bonus point. We were more looking for the win.
“We were looking to play a bit of field position towards the end of the second half there and if it did open up and the try was on then good, but to be honest we weren’t really think about that.”
Next up for Albion is a tough trip to one of the pre-season favourites Coventry, who will be keen to return to winning ways after suffering surprise back-to-back defeats.
Albion have not won a league game on their travels since March 2014 but Koteczky felt the team learned a lot from their trip to Hull where they lost 25-21. For many of the Plymouth team that was their first trip to the north to play rugby.
“The previous week’s travel was quite new to us, as you could see by the result,” he said. “But we have looked at that and we will work hard and focus on travel and our away game. We would really like to get a win away.”