Delaney's side have won three and lost two this season

Winger Jack Cobden grabbed a hat-trick as Nottingham raced to an impressive 40-13 bonus-point victory over Esher at Meadow Lane on Friday night.

Cobden went over out wide twice in the first half and grabbed a third after half-time with Cesar Sempere's classy try securing the bonus point late on.

Esher did find time to grab a try of their own through prop Dave Millard.

But the visitors were never really in contention and the hosts secured a fifth bonus point in five games.

The Friday night fixture was an attempt to boost the attendance figures, and although the crowd of 1,244 was probably smaller than the Green & Whites would have liked, those fans that did make the effort were treated to an excellent Nottingham display.

It was fly-half Arlidge who started the scoring with his exceptional kicking, calmly slotting two 40-metre penalties with ease inside the opening 20 minutes.

We don't like losing here. This is our turf, our house and we want to be proud of playing here. It's a privilege to play in a place like this Glenn Delaney

Then it was Cobden's turn to shine. After a loose lineout the ball found John Johnston who broke the gain-line then fed Cobden out wide for an easy score. Arlidge added a tough kick from out wide for the extras.

Esher then managed to work their part of the scoreboard with two fine long kicks from the half-way line by full-back Michael Whitehead.

The second try seemed a repeat of the first, Johnston catching a high kick from Andrew Forsyth to feed Cobden, and after a fine hand-off, the winger went over on the far right for his second.

Arlidge added another tricky conversion for a 20-6 half-time lead.

Nottingham dominated the second half from the start. Following an extremely rare miss from Arlidge, the home team played the best rugby of the night, working the ball patiently across and into Cobden's hands who slid in for his and the home team's third.

Arlidge resumed normal kicking service with the conversion and another penalty.

Sempere then had his moment of genius, breaking a tackle on Esher's 22-yard-line and sidestepping Whitehead for a clinical finish which Arlidge duly converted.

Another penalty for the Green & Whites saw them to 40 points, but they could not stop Esher scoring in the second half.

Patient, phase-building rugby saw Millard over the line with Whitehead's successful conversion the last action of the match.

Director of rugby Glenn Delaney told BBC Radio Nottingham: "We don't like losing here. This is our turf, our house and we want to be proud of playing here. It's a privilege to play in a place like this.

"The lads do a stunning job keeping the surface the way it is and that aids to the way we play. When we play here it's special for us and we want to make sure that people don't like coming here."

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