Plymouth Albion: No crisis at Brickfields, says James Shanahan

Shanahan's side have collected only two losing bonus points this season

Plymouth Albion boss James Shanahan insists the club is not in crisis, despite their fourth successive Championship defeat.

Albion went down 31-22 to fellow strugglers Bedford to drop to the bottom of English rugby's second tier.

They are the only side to have lost their opening four matches and have scored the fewest points of any side.

"It's not a crisis, but it's not a good position to be in," Shanahan told BBC Radio Devon after the loss.

"We've lost to teams at home that we should beat in Nottingham and Bedford.

Plymouth Albion boss James Shanahan on his side's current problems
"We need to step up. You either shy away from it or face it head on. I'm going to face it head on and I expect my team to."

"They're not going to be in the top four and I don't think they're going top be in the top six.

"If we want to be in the top six we've got to beat these teams at home and not just beat them, but beat them comfortably."

And Shanahan says all areas of his squad are to blame for the lack of success after a month of the season.

"It's our individual errors that are killing us," he added.

"We talk about execution and accuracy and we're not delivering it at the moment.

"Teams aren't having to work too hard to beat us. Rotherham probably had to work a little bit harder last week, but Nottingham haven't, Bedford haven't, Doncaster haven't, they've all walked away with five points.

"We need to step up. You either shy away from it or face it head on. I'm going to face it head on and I expect my team to."