Albanians were hoping for a dynamic start to the New Year but Barnes never lost faith that they could win this match despite all early indications to the contrary. The contest itself was fractured in that neither side could boast pre-eminence for more than a few minutes. Yet the first half belonged to the hosts.

As early as the ninth minute Albanians took the lead when good approach pressure was given its head and Morgan Thompson cleverly switched play from right to left. Tobias Munday took advantage and Dan Watt converted.

Twenty five minutes in visiting hooker, George Head, was yellow-carded and Watt kicked the simple penalty. But before Head’s return to the fray Rob Martey was on the end of an inch perfect cross kick from Josh Hammett for the fly half to convert. Centre David Butler was then given a ten minute rest and Watt converted the penalty just before half time.

Head redeemed himself with a try just after the restart and Hammett gave his side the lead for the first time. Then Tom Bednall crossed six minutes into the half and Watt’s conversion gave OAs an amount of daylight. This was no to last.

From then on a succession of Albanian errors and excellent Barnes application allowed Hammett a penalty. The last ten minutes, going deep into stoppage time, were spent five metres from the OA goal line with scrum after scrum proving inconsequential. Finally Russ Nimmo broke through and Hammett’s simple conversion ended the day.

Brian Quinn,

Press & Publicity