National Two South

Lydney 23

Old Albanians 41

LYDNEY forwards coach Don Parsons expects old Albanians to finish in the top four this season, after their superior fitness saw them fight back from a 17-12 half-time deficit.

Lydney scored three first half tries with in-form wingers Josh Hannam and Tai Lakabuka both getting over the white line.

Lakabuka finished off a 13th minute move after Chris Holder created a two-on-one overlap, while Hannam showed good speed to outpace the Old Albanians defence from halfway.

Second-row Dave Bennett also touched down, with Mike Hagan kicking a conversion.

Brett Turner took over the kicking duties in the second half, slotting two penalties in the 45th and 49th minutes.

After that, however, the visitors – with former Saracens player Paul Gustard in the back-row – took complete control.

Lydney lost Will Jones to a first half rib injury and also missed the drive of Paul Scott in the back-row. New boy Kurt Brown again acquitted himself well, particularly at the breakdown.

Parsons said: "If I was being brutally honest, I would say we made errors under pressure.

"Old Albanians were simply a better side and after 50 minutes they were still running around like racehorses. We struggled to contain their 10, 12 and 13 and Paul Gustard also had a pretty big impact on the game.

"The encouraging thing for us was that our scrum performed well and we introduced Brett Turner and Mike Hagan, who both did OK."

Lydney: Chris Holder, Tai Lakabuka, Dougie Freeman (rep Brett Turner 26), Danny Chiu, Josh Hannam, Craig Jones (rep Stewart Doust 69), Mike Hagan, Nick Stoneman, Ben Lewis, Nick Selway (rep Leigh Green 49), James Bashford (rep Dave Emery 63), Dave Bennett, Kurt Brown, Will Jones (rep Tim Longton 27), Jim McMahon (capt).