Macclesfield suffered defeat once again on the road, despite picking up a try-scoring bonus point.

The Blues travelled south to St Albans to face Old Albanians, a side who were looking to pull themselves away from the drop against a Blues team that was suffering from the injuries picked up over the last few weeks.

The hosts opened the scoring on seven minutes as they attacked from deep with pace which opened spaces and allowed the full-back Richard Gregg to run in and score.

On 11 minutes they extended their lead, shipping the ball wide to dive over in the corner.

The match was by no means all one-way traffic as the Blues were dominating possession of the ball but struggling to break down a strong defence, while Old Albanians were also very dangerous on the counter-attack.

OAs made it a three-try lead on 22 minutes as the big prop forward Andy Berry broke a few tackles and found number eight Billy Johnson with the offload who ran in under the posts, taking the lead to 19-0.

Old Albanians wrapped up their bonus point on the half-hour mark as Michael Allan picked the gap to score in the corner.

The Blues’ possession finally paid off on 35 minutes as the forwards retained the ball well until David Marwick blasted his way over under the posts from close range.

Tom Eaton added the extras to make the score 24-7.

The hosts responded immediately to keep their three-try lead going into half-time though. A very soft score was gifted to them by Macc’s defence as winger Ollie Marchon dived over relatively unchallenged.

Josh Fowles

The Blues got off to a good start after half-time, number eight Franky Barker crashing over from close range after the backs made good ground out wide cutting through the hosts’ defence. Eaton again added the extras, 31-14 the score.

A long period of defence for Macc followed their score as they held up the visitors over the line and turned over the resulting scrum shortly after.

But it was still not long until the hosts crossed, on 50 minutes to again restore their four-try lead.

Marchon completed his brace for the hosts on 55 minutes as he finished well out wide to take Old Albanians past the 40-point mark.

After having a certain score ruled out Rhodri Mayor made sure he got himself on the scoresheet as he crossed soon after the original disappointment.

A solid set-piece for Macclesfield proved the catalyst to opening the home side’s defence.

Each team added a late score to cap off a fast and exciting game of rugby.

The Blues’ try came from Josh Fowles as he rose highest to pluck an Eaton cross-kick out of the air and finish in the corner to make the final score 50-26.