Tom Coleman reaction to Bishop’s Stortford’s National 1 defeat at Plymouth Albion

Tom Coleman felt Bishop’s Stortford deserved more than a single bonus point for their efforts in the weekend’s 24-21 defeat at Plymouth Albion in National 1.

They returned from the long trek to Devon having suffered a narrow defeat in front of a 1,252-strong crowd at Brickfields.

They had to play the last quarter of the game with a maximum of 14 men following yellow cards to Ollie Jones and Tom Mills - the latter’s becoming a red - but kept within three points of their hosts to earn a bonus point.

“It’s a tough result for us to take, especially after the first half where I thought we were excellent,” said head coach Coleman, whose side were 18-14 ahead at the break.

“I’m immensely proud of all the players and I feel they deserved more for their effort.”

Stortford, whose tries were scored by Chris Smith and Alex Gilham in the first period, also had to cope with losing captain Will Rogers to injury early in the second half.

They sit ninth in the table and the team one place below them, Sedgley Park, come to Silver Leys this Saturday.

“When the crowd gets up at Plymouth it’s a tough place to play and you need those 50-50 decisions to go your way,” said Coleman.

“They didn’t today, so we move on and now focus on preparing really for [this] weekend.”

Stortford’s home match against Birmingham Moseley, which was postponed on January 11, has been rescheduled for Saturday March 29.