Pontarddulais 25 pts. Tenby Utd 26

With a fixture at second-placed Pontarddulais last Saturday, Coastal Cottages sponsored and third-placed Tenby United set off east for the first of their five away trips, all of which need winning, if the dream of promotion to Division Three West is to be achieved.

While the necessary victory was achieved, it was at a cost, as several players received knocks that will make selection for the next trip to Burry Port tomorrow (Saturday) a challenge for coach Emori Katalau.

Kicking-off, Tenby set out to put the home side on the back foot by chasing down the receiver and forcing a situation where Pontarddulais were camped close to their line as Tenby undertook a series of pick and go's, the final one seeing burly second row Jonny Lane carried across the line by his fellow forwards. With Tom Lewis adding the extras, the United had achieved an ideal start.

The lead was short-lived, however, as the hero of a few minutes previous, Jonny Lane gave away the first of many penalties and fullback Jonathan Lloyd narrowed the gap to 7-3.

Straight from the restart, Dai Meyrick and wing Sam Cataki combined to take play to the halfway line and a high up-and-under from Tom Lewis, which was chased by Meyrick and Cataki, forced home fullback Lloyd to knock-on and from the maul that followed, Tenby were awarded a penalty for stamping and Lewis increased the lead to 10-3 with a well-struck penalty.

Number eight Sam Smith was next into action with a trademark pick and go from the base of the scrum, linking skilfully with Tom Lewis and Dai Meyrick, only for the fullback to lose possession just as the move became threatening. The ensuing maul resulted in yet another penalty to the home side, which Lloyd duly slotted over the bar to narrow the lead to 10-6.

From the restart, Gareth Edwards superbly fielded the kick and set off on a storming charge up field, only for yet another breakdown situation to yield a penalty, but this time it was against the home side and Lewis extended the lead to 13-6 with a well-struck kick.

Referee Owen, who had made the long journey south from Rhyl, issued a final warning to both sets of forwards regarding killing or not releasing the ball at the breakdown, but obviously the warning was not taken seriously as from the very next breakdown, Jonny Lane was pinged for a holding offence and was correctly instructed to spend 10 minutes in the bin.

This was the incentive Pontarddulais needed and they pinned Tenby on their own line for several minutes with a series of driving mauls and, with three forwards inexplicably standing behind the try line and not taking part in the maul, Aled Thomas crashed over in the corner; and with Lloyd adding the extras the 'Bont' had clawed their way back to 13-13.

The Bont were now being roared on by the large home crowd and it took some desperate defending by Tenby to stop them grabbing the lead as their back row and scrum-half probed for openings, but it was Sam Smith who rescued a dangerous attack as he cleverly stole the ball and Rhys Thomas released his backs, forcing the home side into high tackle, from which Lewis calmly slotted over the resulting penalty, to put Tenby back into the lead at 16-13.

Another catch and drive from the restart by Gareth Edwards was capitalised on by Tom Lewis, who sent his clearance kick 40 metres into touch on the Bont 22.

During this passage of play, both Rhys Thomas and 'Big Jim' Kaumaitotoya were injured and, while Thomas recovered sufficiently to carry on, Big Jim was obviously struggling and minutes later was replaced by Luke Dedman.

With Jonny Lane returning to the fray, Tenby managed to prevent Pontarddulais from developing any worthwhile attacks and were unlucky not to score on several occasions themselves, with centre Alex Watts and number eight Sam Smith both putting in some storming runs. One such attack resulted in home scrum-half Williams being sin-binned for crossing, just as referee Owen blew for half-time.

Tenby started the second half like they had started the game, by putting the home side under pressure with some smart inter-passing between forwards and backs and from one such move, inspirational flanker Rob 'Chunk' James fell awkwardly in the tackle and was stretchered off to be replaced by Terry John, who went in at hooker with hard-working Nicky Guymer slotting into the back row.

Despite this disruption, Tenby continued to mount attack after attack and centre Gavin Brace linked with winger Sam Cataki, forcing the home side to infringe and from the resulting penalty, Lewis extended the lead to 19-13.

Despite this latest set-back, the Bont were very unlucky not to add to their tally when scrum-half Williams broke on the blindside of a scrum close to their line to scamper 50 metres up-field, only to be stopped by the covering pair of Sam Smith and Sam Cataki, who managed to hold the move up until the Tenby eight got back and, through some excellent counter rucking, set up a situation where Lewis cleared the danger.

Pontarddulais continued to put Tenby under pressure and a superb run by young number eight Aled Thomas, was only spoilt as his foot brushed the touchline when he was only inches away from scoring what would have been the try of the game.

Buoyed by this latest passage of play, the Bont stepped up the pressure on the Tenby line and it needed some speedy scrambling defence by the United to prevent the home side from narrowing the gap in the scores.

Prop Ben Cray replaced the tireless Robbie Clark as coach Katalau attempted to get some respite from the pressure being applied by the home side.

Relief came from a steal against the head at a scrum deep in the Tenby half and number eight Smith linked with his half-backs, who released centre Alex Watt, who in turn linked with supporting fullback Dai Meyrick, whose pass to winger Sam Cataki was delayed sufficiently to allow Pontarddulais to just get back to prevent a score.

Cataki was again in action soon after when excellent approach work by Sam Smith and Turbo Lewis put the winger clear, only for him to lose control of the ball on the Bont line.

The bad discipline that had plagued Tenby through the second half returned in spades, with four penalties quickly awarded by referee Owen, ending with replacement hooker Terry John sitting out 10 minutes in the bin.

To add to their woes, Tenby saw their lead narrowed to a single point as their stretched defence, aided by some pathetic attempts at tackling, allowed winger Steffan Williams to slide over wide out.

Jonny Lane was injured during this phase of play and replaced by Wyndham Williams.

To their credit, Tenby regained their composure and, despite still being down to 14 men, put together several threatening attacking moves, with centres Gavin Brace and Alex Watt prominent, supported by Sam Smith, Gareth Edwards and Nicky Guymer. It was from one classic Sam Smith break that Tom Lewis ghosted through the static Bont defence to stretch the lead to 26-18, as he also added the extras to his try.

With Terence John just about to return to the action, Tenby went down to 13 men as newcomer to the fray, Wyndham William, was sin-binned for not retreating at a quick tap penalty.

For the few minutes they were down to 13, Tenby managed to prevent any scores, but ironically, just after John returned to the field, the Bont scored a try, with several would-be Tenby tacklers stopping for what they thought was a forward pass to winger Gethin Williams, who continued his run and trotted around unopposed under the sticks. With Lloyd adding the extras, the United were now only leading 26-25, with time running out.

Thinking that was the final threat to a hard-earned victory, Tenby were to endure one final nail-biting moment as, right on the whistle, they gave away another penalty on their 10-metre line and, with no time for a lineout, Pontarddulais ignored the tap and go option and it was left to fullback Lloyd to attempt the long-range penalty. He struck the ball well, but it just slid under the bar, much to the relief of the Tenby players, coaching staff and supporters, and as the ball was minored, referee Owen blew for time.

Coming away with four points for the win was the only positive thing to take from the match as Pontarddulais earned a losing bonus point, which could prove crucial at the end of the season.

More worrying was the lack of discipline, which resulted in Tenby playing for 30 minutes with 14 men, never an easy obstacle to overcome, and will need addressing in the final four games.

And perhaps even more worrying than that was the after-match injury update, with flankers Rob 'Chunk' James and Timoci 'Big Jim' Kaumaitotoya sidelined for the rest of the season, Chunk damaging ligaments and a cartilage (which will require surgery this week) and Big Jim breaking a rib. These two influential players will be missed big time.

With tomorrow's (Saturday's) opponents, Burry Port, racking up 28 points away to Amman United, and only just losing out by the odd point, their position near the foot of the league table must not be under-estimated as Tenby attempt to extend their impressive run of consecutive wins in the league to 13.

Tenby fielded: Dai Meyrick, Nemani Ratu, Alex Watt, Gavin Brace, Sam Cataki, Tom Lewis, Rhys Thomas, Robbie Clark (Ben Cray), Nicky Guymer, Lee Tucker, Gareth Edwards, Jonny Lane (Wyndham Williams), Rob James (Terry John), Timoci Kaumaitotoya (Luke Dedman), Sam Smith.