PROP Ollie Dawe says Plymouth Albion are desperate to put in a good performance against Coventry at Brickfields on Saturday after the disappointment of their last home match.
Albion have won six of their last seven National One matches, but they came unstuck against Hull Ionians in terrible conditions two weeks ago, losing 17-7 in front of their own fans. That is their only defeat since November 21.
“The game against Hull was a massive shame,” said 18-year-old Dawe, who has started all-but two of Albion’s games this season. “We had put all those good performances in but then came back to home and everyone was expecting a big performance and we didn’t do that.
“So we want to put in a good shift this week and send the fans home happy.”
He added: “We are excited about this game. We should have beaten Coventry away, so that’s another reason the boys will be up for it.
“Hopefully, we can put a performance in and not save it to the second half.
“We want to kick off well in the first few minutes and, hopefully, it will go our way.
“We want to keep putting performances in. It is six wins from seven now and, hopefully, we can make it seven from eight.”
Albion narrowly lost 26-19 at Coventry in October. The match was decided in the final minute of normal time when Jacques Le Roux scored a controversial try under the posts. The pass to Le Roux had looked forward and initially the referee did not give the try but changed his mind after speaking to the touch-judge.
Dawe said: “It wasn’t a great decision. I think everyone in stadium thought it was a forward pass. It took it away from us a bit but I think we were the better side overall and I think that was the one thing we took away from the game.”
Albion head into Saturday’s home match on the back of a 38-26 win at Fylde.
Plymouth had been trailing 26-10 with 20 minutes to go in Lancashire, but scored four late converted tries.
“It just show the quality we have in the side,” said youngster Dawe. “If we put that in from the start then we can blow teams away.
“It also showed our fitness. They were absolutely knackered but we just kept putting it in.”
Albion and Coventry are the two top supported clubs in National One and Dawe is hoping there will be a good turnout at Brickfields on Saturday.
“There was big crowd up there and, hopefully, it will an even bigger crowd down here. The support we have had has been great.”
After Saturday’s National One match, Brickfields will host a top schools game between Ivybridge Community College and Royal Belfast Academical Institution (5pm).