GRAHAM DAWE felt his Plymouth Albion team thoroughly deserved their victory over Blackheath in front of nearly 1,700 people at Brickfields on Saturday.

Albion had to survive a late scare to secure a 20-19 win and move up to third in the National One table.

Dawe’s side were 20-12 up with 80 minutes up on the clock but gifted Blackheath a turnover try in injury-time and then were penalised with the last play of the game after the referee appeared to miss an earlier knock-on.

Blackheath’s Freddie Gabbitass, who once played for Albion, had the chance to win the match for his side, but the league’s top points scorer just missed with his kick.

Dawe was pleased with his side’s set-piece against Blackheath

Dawe thought his side performed well and admitted it would have been really hard on them had they lost the match at the end.

“The boys played really well,” he said. “We butchered a couple of chances and it was unfortunate we did not get 17-0 up. They then came back just before half-time and that kept them in the game really.

“Full credit to Blackheath, they have got some good rugby players, but we compounded errors and gave them some ball and nearly paid the price.

“Thankfully, though, we won the game, which I thought we deserved.

“Our set piece functioned really well, but it is a game we will learn a lot of lessons from.”

On Gabbitass’ miss, Dawe said: “You just think the good Lord shone on the 84 minutes that had gone previously.”

Albion’s attendance on Saturday was the highest this season in National One.

“It was a great crowd,” said Dawe. “And they saw an exciting contest.

“It started off a really bright match. The kick game was a good spectacle – it was a good pressure game to see who folded and I think we won that quite convincingly.”

Albion now have another weekend off before travelling to Ampthill, who sit just one place and one point behind them after drawing 19-19 with leaders Richmond.