Albion tenterhooks

So another Friday night and another match under the floodlights - personally I love them but when Yorkshire Carnegie lose it doesn't half make for a miserable weekend. So there's been a few of those lately.

Something will be very much amiss if a much needed league win does not come against our opposition on Friday night. Plymouth Albion are very much rooted at the bottom of the table with no wins and only two losing bonus points.

I wonder how simple it is to fix most of the things that are going wrong? I'd like to see us keep hold of the ball more and not kick it away. But when we do have hold of it, we seem incapable of keeping it: there are too many penalties, errors and poor decisions being made that ends with us handling the ball over to the opposition. And I can't understand the amount of knock-ons we're giving away; certainly compared to the teams we're playing. What are our opposition doing or using that we're not? Or is it a sign of over-trying or lost confidence? I tell you what was lack of confidence; hearing the Three Counties commentator say that Leonard did not want to take the penalty to take the losing bonus point at Bedford. It's just as well he did as from listening to the (anti-Yorkshire bias) I doubt we'd scored a try - if there was time.

We don't seem to have that edge from last season that saw small opportunities converted into points of some description. I know the story of the hare and the tortoise sees the slow tortoise win over the fast hare but it doesn't work like that in the rugby world. We've lost a lot of pace around the centre channel and it's taking its toll - the speedsters are getting the ball too late (as it's taking too long to get to them and, as such, they are not in the right positions when they do) and they are getting smothered by the opposition. And neither do we have the ability to mix it up and change the game plan when it's not working or the throw it to Buzz option draws a blank.

But on a brighter note we have been getting some better spells of possession and been getting into more threatening positions, so against a side struggling to defend there's every chance we'll start to score points.

I don't think there is much choice around the match-day team with the injuries we have so I think keep unchanged from last week or mix it up slightly by putting Leonard on the bench, Georgiou in at fly-half and start Goss on the wing.

Yorkshire Carnegie should win this. Should…it might be painful and I’ll be on tenterhooks all night. But, and it’s a big but, if those seemingly simple things get fixed and the big match we are owed is delivered it could be quite a big win. However any win will do.

Now here's something that might deliver the required rocket up the proverbial - I'm off to the Ladies Night on Saturday. Win and those topless-waiters get one hug and slobber off me; lose and it's two...at least!