Tenby United gained their expected win over National League division four (west) basement battlers Penclawdd at Heywood Lane on Saturday, but it was a closer run thing than the scoreline would suggest.

Although the Seasiders outscored the bottom of the table Cocklemen by three tries to one, both sides missed chances, particularly the United, who saw three golden try opportunities go begging.

With infringements and unforced errors aplenty, the stop-start nature of the game meant neither side could get any real continuity, while the grafting Penclawdd pack deserved greater reward for their industry throughout

However, while the Cocklemen had a solid scrum and made the most of the linesout, the Seasiders' pack just had the edge in the loose, allowing them to turn over possession and put pressure on the Cocklemen's defences, particularly in the second quarter.

Kicking off in driving drizzle following a minute's silence for former Tenby United and Penclawdd player, the late Jason Bird, Penclawdd made the better start, with fullback Rhys Williams putting them three points ahead in as many minutes with a well-struck penalty.

Tenby pivot Bleddyn Evans quickly put the teams back on terms with a three-pointer at the other end.

Penclawdd's industrious pack had the United on the back foot in the opening stages, supplying phase ball which enabled scrum-half John Tanner to harness the backing wind to gain good field position, while evasive fullback Williams seized every opportunity to run at the United as the rain eased off.

However, two missed penalties from Williams proved crucial, as it gave the Seasiders the breathing space to find their feet in the loose and start to turn the tide.

Front row trio of Mark Badham, Scott Payne and skipper Richard Rossiter worked tirelessly to win ball off the floor, allowing the back row of Nicky Allen, Anthony Griffiths and Rob James to take the game to the Cocklemen and break the gain line.

Australian Ben Armstrong also made plenty of hard yards with the ball in hand, but the Seasiders were guilty of losing the advantage through indiscipline at the breakdown.

The deadlock was broken when Allen spotted a chink in the Penclawdd defence and made ground from the back of a scrum.

The busy flanker did well to stay on his feet long enough in the tackle to pop the ball back for Steve Hartland to run in from 20 metres and touch down in the Heywood Mount corner.

Evans failed with the conversion and the re-start saw Tenby lose the services of scrum-half Dylan Lawrence.

He was replaced by Neil Powling, which meant a slight re-shuffle in the United's threequarter line, with Darren Rees moving to inside-half and Powling taking over as fullback.

Five points ahead, Tenby started to exert more control, making inroads into Penclawdd territory, but they were unable to turn pressure into points.

Payne looked to have touched down in the corner following a tap penalty, but referee Gareth Widlake was unsighted as to whether the ball was grounded, while they also came close from another tap penalty when Griffiths made ground before releasing his threes, but Gavin Brace was bundled into touch in the Knowling Mead corner.

Although Tenby struggled for phase ball in the linesout, they were inventive with the ball in hand, with Rees, Sion Brace and Neil Truman making plenty of ground with their elusive running, but the Seasiders were unable to go that extra yard and 8-3 was how it remained at the break.

Tenby almost increased their lead just after the oranges when Griffiths again made ground before linking with the threes.

The ball was moved out to Powling, but the replacement fullback made the strange decision, having already drawn the only Penclawdd cover, to kick ahead 15 metres out instead of linking with Hartland to his right on the overlap

As a result, a golden try scoring opportunity went begging, with neither player then able to gather the awkwardly bouncing ball before it went into touch in goal.

Evans then missed a penalty, before the United's efforts were finally rewarded when Armstrong barged his way over from a tap penalty to claim a try under the posts and Evans added the extras.

Tenby edged further ahead when they worked the blind-side from a scrum and Hartland breezed through for his second, which Evans again converted.

Although Chris James, who had replaced Paul Broaders in the boilerhouse at the interval, did his best to disrupt in the linesout, Tenby were still not winning enough quality ball to give them first phase platform.

Mark Brace replaced Rossiter going into the last quarter and was quickly in action in trying to take Tenby forward, but flanker Stuart Jon and number eight Leigh Rattie stood out in the loose for Penclawdd, trying to reverse the trend with their straight running.

The Cocklemen suffered a blow midway through the final quarter when scrum-half Tanner was yellow carded for an off-the-ball incident, but raised their game in response, with stand-off Rob Richards making inroads with his mazy running to put Tenby under the cosh.

Penclawdd's persistence was finally rewarded when centre Mark Broom finally managed to squirm his way over for an unconverted try following a period of pressure.

In the closing stages, Tenby replaced Armstrong with Kiwi Gene Hocking and almost increased their lead going into time added on when they moved second phase wide from a ruck.

Gavin Brace wrong-footed the Penclawdd defence with a nice reverse pass to Powling, but Powling again chose to chip ahead from about seven metres out and, with a little too much weight behind it, could not close on the ball before it crossed the dead-ball line.

With the start of the Six Nations, Tenby have a break from league action tomorrow (Saturday).

Tenby United fielded: Darren Rees, Steve Hartland, Neil Truman, Sion Brace, Gavin Brace, Bleddyn Evans, Dylan Lawrence, Scott Payne, Richard Rossiter (capt.), Mark Badham, Ben Armstrong, Paul Broaders, Rob James, Anthony Griffiths, Nicky Allen.