In terms of the overall match, there was, it has to be said, something of an air of ‘‘ early season’’ about this league opener at the Brickfields.

Plymouth just about deserved their win, but one could not escape the fact that even though Coventry were forced to field a below full strength squad, the match was still there for the taking.

The fact that it was could be firmly attributed to an excellent performance by the Cov pack and some fine defence. Albion’s personnel have changed fairly considerably, but not unsurprisingly their tactics have not and the Midlanders can feel well pleased that they certainly held their own up front.

A lot of errors un-enforced crept into the match, a lack of a real cutting edge hampering however Coventry’s attempts to pull the match round, yet until very late into the second half, Albion were only  two points ahead.

After Laidlaw had missed an early home penalty attempt, Coventry enjoyed a brief passage of play in the Plymouth half before a good driving maul out of defence eased pressure. Albion again could have gone in front, Laidlaw once more missing on 15 minutes, before the home side went in front.

Unsurprisingly the try came from traditional Albion means, a series of rolling mauls from a close in line out driving prop Hopkins over for Laidlaw this time to convert. The initial position however in the lead up had been rather given away as Cov got into a defensive tangle whilst not under major pressure.

Within three minutes however the margin was back to 7pts –5. From in front of the home posts, Nathan Jones switched play to the left, quick hands sending Tom Slater free on the left but with two defenders to beat which was achieved with considerable flair. Myles Dorrian’s touchline conversion sailed wide.

Nicholls made a splendid break for Plymouth with came to nothing before Darren Clayton received ‘’ yellow’’ for playing the ball in an offside position. With Carl Burgess stealing a ball at the front of an Albion line out, Cov more than held their own to the break even down to 14 men.

The second half largely continued in the same fashion, Albion certainly having a greater number of attacking opportunities,  Gibson almost scoring on 47 minutes before knocking on right on the line after a clever Laidlaw kick had found the wing man.

Coventry did launch a series of promising attacks after 53 minutes before again after the build up possession was lost. Albion’s hooker Owen was spoken to shortly afterwards with no further action taken before on 62 minutes a 30 metre Laidlaw penalty opened up a 5 point lead. It was however a minute into injury time when a second Laidlaw penalty awarded after a high tackle denied Cov a losing bonus point. Seven minutes into added on time, Myles Dorrian from fully 40 metres could have pulled three points back, his penalty attempt however sailing wide.

Not a classic by any means, the high number of un-enforced errors from both sides as much as anything contributing to that fact.

Coventry. Lee Parry, Sam Montague, Ben Russell, Ollie Winter, Tom Slater, Myles Dorrian, Nathan Jones, Rob Dugard, Chris Whitehead, Rudi Brits, Carl Burgess, Rob Walton, Henno Venter (Capt), Darren Clayton, Laurie McGlone

Replacements; Dai Maddocks for Dugard, Jamie Miller for Clayton, Mike Walls for Jones, Greg Thomas for Venter.

Coventry. Try; Tom Slater

Plymouth Albion. Try; Ryan Hopkins. Conversion; Ross Laidlaw. Penalty goals; Laidlaw 2