Charlie’s still my darling

From where I was sitting that would be a completely unreasonable and unjustifiable conclusion to jump to.

Yes, Charlie Hodgson did scuff the first drop goal attempt to snatch an unexpected Sale victory in the dying seconds and yes, his second attempt shortly after did sail wide of the posts, but any semblance of blame does not lie on his shoulders.

He was the catalyst from which every creative Sharks' spark emanated. He controlled the game with some sublime and astute kicking out of hand and some solid place kicking.

He was able, at last, to get our backline moving. In short, he was the reason we were still in with a shout in the end. So blame him if you like, but you'd be wrong.

Our prince' may never be a king in the eyes of the old-school, conservative establishment at the RFU, but as far as I'm concerned he was crowned many, many moons ago.

We missed him dreadfully last season thanks to England and I for one am so grateful to have him back pulling the strings again. Without him yesterday we wouldn't have had a hope of getting any sort of result, let alone a losing bonus point.

The pattern was set in the first 10 minutes. We were slow off the block, missing too many tackles, losing too many set pieces and gifting opportunities to a Bath side who, let's face it, haven't lost at the Rec for almost a year.

You don't present opportunities like that to a dominant pack and the likes of Danny Grewcock and just expect to win at a canter in the end.

Had Shaun Berne put away both conversions and a penalty we would've been 17-0 down with less than 15 minutes on the clock.

Bath were odds-on for a home win anyway. Please lads, don't make the job any easier by giving them a head start as well.

Fortunately this initial onslaught didn't or couldn't last.

Maybe the pace was too much for the aged legs of Grewcock and his other forwards or maybe the re-organisation of the Bath backline following the departure of their giant wing, Matt Banahan, just proved too much of a disruption.

What's undeniable is that had Bath been able to keep this tempo going, there's no doubting that we would've been dead and buried by half time.

When the tempo slowed we finally began to put some of our own moves together. We started to pressurize the stuttering Bath backline and looked more like the team of old.

Following a period of sustained Sale pressure at the set piece and one or two lineout steals by Sean Cox, we eventually managed to get some points on the board.

A relatively straightforward Hodgson penalty was followed by a trademark drop-goal - things at last were starting to look a little brighter.

Just before the half hour mark we started to throw the ball around a little more and create space that just hadn't been available earlier on.

Bath are well organised team and very difficult to break down, as Leicester Tigers discovered last week.

This season they've also added flair and penetration to their repertoire and believe in running the ball from deep. The Sharks were able to capitalise on this and stretch the Bath defence, creating space in the channels and on the flanks.

Another good scrum and quick thinking and soft hands from Hodgson allowed Chris Mayor to straighten his line and open up space outside for Ripol to power in for the try in the corner.

But for a pointless and unnecessary penalty which Berne converted Sale could've unexpectedly have gone in with a half-time lead.

After the break flair was not much in evidence from either side.

The ball may've been moved from flank to flank by both teams, but what little pressure was applied was met with stern resistance from both Sale and Bath.

Grewcock and Bath's new scrum half Michael Claassens repelled any attempt to breach the Bath defence while Cox, Schofield and Foden made sure no-one in blue would pass. Hodgson kicked two further penalties and Berne converted one of his own to bring the scores back to 19-18.

The stuttering third quarter wasn't helped by the referee, Andrew Small, who proved to be a very fussy official and a tad whistle-happy.

I'm not one for criticising the refs too much as I think they've got a thankless job, but what's needed at this level is consistency. This has to be applied across the board and shouldn't be dependent on whether you're playing at home or away.

When a team have an advantage, as the Sharks did at the midpoint of the half, then play the advantage when it's on, don't drag the play back 20 metres for a very marginal initial knock on and deny the non-offending team its advantage.

Similarly holding on' is holding on whether the offence be for two seconds or 20.

Magnus Lund had barely touched the ground when he was penalised for not releasing. I was convinced Daniel Browne had fallen asleep with the ball in his hands before the referee blew for the offence.

If each team gets the same treatment then no-one can complain.

In the end the result hinged on a question of whose nerve and composure would hold the longest. With three minutes to go the game was there for the taking.

All it needed was patience and a cool head and an unexpected four points were in the bag.

But as a supporter of Sale Sharks you come to realise that you never can expect the obvious. If something strikes me as obvious, then as sure as eggs is eggs, you can guarantee my team will probably do the opposite.

It frustrates the hell out of me but what can you do?

We gave away stupid penalties last season that cost us dear and have been perilously close to doing the same thing again already this season. As I watched the clock tick away the final few minutes I thought to myself please don't, just don't. No penalties this time!

Why Chris Jones felt the need to scoop the ball back into the ruck when everyone, their aunt and the ref had seen the ball be presented out of the back of it, I'll never know.

It was a nailed-on penalty. Even someone as one-eyed as me couldn't dispute it.

As soon as the penalty was converted by Berne, I knew it was game over. It was a stupid and unnecessary offence just like at Kingston Park and it cost us the match.

Where do we go from here?

Well, we just hope that lessons have been learned and retained and that we can raise our game and bounce back against London Wasps on Friday.

There were good things to come out of the game in spite of the result. We continued to play with our heads up and with Charlie leading the line we looked like we can pose a threat and take the ball forward.

We seem prepared to stand and fight and we've brought through a generation of younger players who're not afraid to get stuck in and mix it with the seasoned pros.

Foden defended magnificently, Coxy's shoulders get wider with every match and all the younger lads, Briggs, Tait, Thomas and Day played with passion and showed great spirit and commitment to the team.

If a player is proud to wear the shirt and will fight for every inch of turf while he's wearing it, then you can't really ask for any more - can you?

I still think we'll fare well this season, even though as a team we've not yet lit the blue touch-paper, but, the red mist has to be ditched once and for all.

Cool heads and calm, controlled actions and temperaments are what win you trophies. Rash actions and decisions only ever cost you results.