In Wednesday's floodlight match at Carmarthen Park, the visitors Narberth lost out on a golden opportunity to narrow the gap on Division One pace setters, Maesteg and Llanharan.
On the previous evening, 3,000 spectators had been at the Old Parish where the match between Maesteg and Llanharan ended in a draw and a win on Wednesday would have been a valuable boost for Narberth's promotion aspirations.
It was not to be, as the Athletic dominated the lineouts and looked more penetrative in attack to deserve their win by a margin of seven points.
Former Narbeth and Whitland outside-half Julian Howells had an excellent game for the Athletic. His immaculate place-kicking notched up 17 points and his incisive running with the ball set up a number of attacks on the Narberth line.
The return of scrum-half Ricky Richards from Neath gave Howells more space to run with the ball and more time for his tactical kicking.
When Athletic number eight Graham Evans was yellow-carded in the opening minutes, Chris Macdonald gave the Otters an early lead with a try from a tap penalty which was converted by Gareth James.
However, Julian Howells quickly clawed back three points with a penalty and a try from a scrum near the left corner by winger David Jenkins put Athletic ahead.
Howells converted the try with a quality place kick and added two more penalties before the interval.
In the second half, both number tens traded penalties, before Otters' centre Elgan Vittle ran in for an unconverted try from a scrum.
A penalty by Julian Howells made it necessary for Narberth to score twice to win, and although the Otters were camped inside the Athletic 22 in the closing stages, when Carmarthen lock Steve Morse was yellow-carded, possession could not be converted into points.
Tomorrow (Saturday), Narberth are home to UWIC.
Narberth fielded Nick Jones, Daniel Gravell, Andrew Bowen (Deiniol Evans), Elgan Vittle, Andrew Jones, Gareth James, Chris Macdonald, Rob Jones (Fifitapuku Faletau), Simon Delaney, Alan Phillips, Jamie Bohata (David Ebsworth), Jason Jennings, Katilimoni Tuipulotu, Gareth Bennett (Matthew Evans) and Meurig Daniel.