Whitland slipped to their fifth defeat of the season in division one of the National League on Saturday when they narrowly went down at home to Newbridge.

As a result, the Borderers currently lie six places off the bottom of the table with 10 points, having won three of their nine games and drawn one.

Saturday's clash with the East Walians was a closely contested affair, with little to choose between the two sides.

It mainly came down to a kicking duel between the two fly-halves, Daniel Griffiths for Whitland and Justin Williams for Newbridge, with only one try being scored by the visitors - and effectively that proved the difference at the end.

Looking for a return to winning ways after their defeat against Carmarthen Quins the previous week, it was Whitland, though, who started the brighter, and they established an early lead thanks to two penalties from Griffiths inside the first 10 minutes.

Some excellent work up front also nearly resulted in a try in the corner, with forwards Fakataha Molatika, Steve Gerrard, Ricky Davies and Romeo Collela in the thick of things, but they could not quite force the vital touchdown.

After soaking up the pressure, Newbridge responded with their first penalty by Williams, and by the 24th minute had snatched the lead - a lead they were never to relinquish.

The crucial points came via a try from impressive skipper Damian Cooper who crashed over after a rolling maul from a lineout inside the Whitland 22.

Williams converted and later added a penalty, while Griffiths replied for Whitland to leave Newbridge with their noses in front 13-9 at half-time.

After the break, neither side really managed to dominate proceedings to any great extent and the only scores in the half were two more penalties apiece by Griffiths and Williams.

Perhaps Whitland's greatest mistake was failing to take advantage of a 10-minute period when Newbridge were reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of their flanker Geraint Gladwin.

The Borderers applied plenty of pressure, but were unable to break through the tenacious visiting defence, and it was a delighted Newbridge who took two points away from Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn.