Great victory. Stoke leap to eighth!

Old Albanians 10 pts v Basingstoke 24 pts

Whilst Old Albanians now have a palacious set up it was Stoke who turned on the style with a determined performance that saw the FX backed side record their 3rd league win on the bounce and move them two places up the table. Unlike the earlier encounter between the two teams when Stoke let in early scores the home sides effort were thwarted in the opening encounters by resolute defending from Stoke. Albanians efforts were not helped by the numerous turn overs they gave away but much credit goes to Stoke with the hard work and solid tackling they put in. Once the visitors settled into their stride, they gave as much as they got. As a result Stoke took the lead on 20 minutes with a Berti penalty and slowly started to get the upper hand. Numerous visits into Albanians half went unrewarded and the nearest to a score was when a Stoke pass went to ground on the home teams line. This left the score at half time 3-nil to Stoke who were playing into the breeze.

A substitute in the front row at half time saw a marked improvement in the scrum and gave a better platform to build from. Stoke were now the more dominant team and much of the second half was spent in the home teams half. As a result pressure was rewarded with a penalty on 44 minutes to lead 6-0. A minute later Stoke suffered a blow when Berti was shown a yellow card for persistent foul play. Instead of suffering by being a player down Stoke were inspired into action, especially with some driving mauls, one of which moved 30 metres. A spell of pressure by Stoke after a break by Appleby was stopped close to the line but ended with a score by Russell Northcote, who had a good game coming in at short notice for Stirling. This followed a line out 10 metre from the line. Now leading 11-nil Stoke extended their lead when man of the match Humberstone slotted a penalty on 53 minutes. Stoke continued to be the assertive team and were handed several penalties and Berti converted one from three to extend the lead to 17-nil with 10 minutes to go. Stoke deserved to have a clean sheet but the home side started to play with more urgency and scored a try on 72 minutes with a maul over the line that was given as grounded to reduce the score by 5. On 78 minutes Albanians scored another 5 points to leave a converted try needed to level matters. Not to let all the good work go to waste Stoke put the pressure back on the home team from the restart. During the closing moments Stoke tackled anything that moved and their reward was a try for Feausi after a home player spilled the ball in a tackle on his 22 for a run in at the posts and converted with the final whistle following. Stoke had much to be proud of from the overall team performance. Individually Rushworh added to the scrum, Northcote for his efforts and the back row playing with more freedom particularly Appleby and Humberstone settling in at full back.

A delighted Dixon added "That was a massive game and an important win. The lads put their bodies on the line today and that was reflected by the fact that we competed to the final whistle and scored on full time, With four wins in the last five games confidence is higher and a winning habit always helps.Next week is a new challenge and we will work towards that in training this week."

Team: Humberstone, Buckland, Feausi, Chimbima, Rogers, Berti, Lilleywhite, Perkins, Maxwell, Bussati (Rushworth), Wilson, Northcote, Appleby, Rees, Dixon.

Subs not used Calder, Northcote(T)

link to RFU site