Darlington Mowden Park 22 Old Albanians 9

THINGS are about to get tough for Mowden Park, so it was just as well their stout defence saw them through Saturday's encounter.

After two early tries gave them a 12-0 lead they were under pressure for the next hour, but Old Albanians lacked the skill to break down the defence.

The visitors still looked likely winners when their third penalty had the gap down to 12-9 with 20 minutes left, but Mowden responded swiftly with a penalty and third try.

It was a second touchdown for hooker Santiago Socino, who was named man of the match, despite the fact that he and another prominent performer, Joe Craggs, picked up yellow cards.

Even when down to 14, Mowden were able to repel Albanians, who dominated possession but were not as sharp as their hosts with ball in hand.

Whether Mowden can persuade Gareth Nesbit to travel to Plymouth this week after bringing him out of retirement remains to be seen.

The veteran prop stayed on until the third try arrived with 13 minutes left and might take a few days to recover after Mowden were given a hard time in the scrums.

After Plymouth they go to Loughborough then entertain second-placed Moseley, so any further injuries will not be welcome.

Hopes of putting on a show on Sponsors' Day lasted for only the eight minutes it took to score the opening two tries, both coming while the visitors had a man in the bin.

Once back up to full strength, the Albanians pack began to get on top, although they were surprisingly insecure at the line-out. They kicked several penalties to the corner but only once went close to scoring, when they were held up on the line.

Their kicker missed an early penalty, after which Mowden countered strongly and from a quickly-taken free kick they put flanker Brandon Staples over.

From the restart they mounted another high-speed attack, with fly half Caolan Ryan making the crucial break before Socino touched down.

Ryan converted, but the bright start quickly faded, not helped by the finicky referee, and the next hour produced only the visitors' three penalties.

After the third they carelessly allowed the restart to go into touch then lost the line-out. Under pressure for the first time in the second half, they were penalised at a scrum and Ryan made it 15-9.

Mowden quickly went on the attack again, sweeping up the right for centre Ben Frankland to go close before the ball was moved left and Socino bounced off a tackle to go under the posts.

Ryan converted and in another good attack at the death his chip to the corner narrowly failed to bring the bonus point try.