Darlington Mowden Park 19 Old Albanians 51

WITH one eye on giving young players more experience, Mowden Park failed to rise to the occasion when a crowd of 1,252 turned up for the final home game of the season.

There was no shortage of entertainment but most of it was provided by an Old Albanians side who declined to fall back on their stronger pack to dig them out of their National One hole.

How such a good team can occupy the third relegation spot is a mystery, although as Blackheath showed last year it is not difficult for London clubs to bring in reinforcements.

Sadly for whoever was responsible for Albanians having five points deducted, they remain a point adrift of safety and will be relegated if Cinderford take all five at home to Esher next week.

As in the previous home match against Rosslyn Park, Mowden went backwards in the scrums, especially after an early one had to be re-set three times and the young referee spoke to the experienced Gareth Nesbit.

It is an area they will want to address over the summer after conceding two pushover tries and it will be a concern ahead of this week's final game at Blaydon, who are one point behind.

Albanians also had plenty of pace with ex-England Sevens player Ollie Marchon at full back, Saracens' England Under 20s player George Perkins on the right wing and former Newcastle Falcon Jordi Pasqualin at scrum half.

The team had been described as “spineless” by their coach after conceding nine tries to Hartpury College the previous week and the reaction was swift as an 80-metre interception try launched them on the way to a 19-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The second try resulted from feeble tackling and the third from a poor kick by Garry Law, although Mowden did threaten to score inbetween, only to be penalised for not releasing under the posts.

They did get on top in the last ten minutes of the first half, sparked by a punch-up which brought a yellow card for the visiting No 6.

Amazingly, within five minutes he had been followed to the sin-bin by the outstanding Albanians captain, Billy Johnson. and fellow lock Lloyd Bickle, who were guilty of illegally halting driving mauls.

The third card was accompanied by the award of a penalty try, which exonerated Law for his decision to put in a cross-field kick when keeping the ball in hand would surely have exploited a two-man advantage.

Now with a three-man advantage, the next five minutes was the period in which Mowden lost the game. Rather than wiping out the deficit, they fell further behind.

A dropped pass handed possession to Albanians, who did what they had to do in simply hanging on to it until Mowden's frustration resulted in yet another yellow card, this time for home flanker Callum Mackenzie. The visitors kicked a penalty on the stroke of half-time to lead 22-7.

Mowden sent on Ben Rath, the winger on loan from Rotherham, and when he broke through the middle to set up a try for fellow winger George Wacokecoke the gap did not seem insurmountable.

But Albanians turned up the scrum pressure and Mowden were twice penalised before conceding a pushover try, at which point they sent on England Under 18s flanker Joe Craggs for his senior debut.

Mackenzie switched to centre for Tom Hodgson, who might have been a better bet at fly half, although it was a half break by Law, well supported by Henry Robinson and replacement hooker Tom Larder, which produced a try for Jack Allcock.

With Law converting from wide on the left, the gap was again down to ten points with 20 minutes left, but Albanians were awarded a dubious try from a quickly-taken penalty.

Mowden's attempts to stay in the game left them exposed and they conceded a second interception try as the scoreline became deeply unflattering.

It was a sad end to the home programme, but the fact that so many turned up was a reflection of the enjoyment provided throughout the season.