Tenby fall at final hurdle - but only just

Trimsaran 23 pts. Tenby United 18

Tenby travelled to second placed Trimsaran aware that the home side had delivered the goods yet again in their last match, when they took Llangefni's proud three-year ground record. Also, having been played off the park earlier in the season when Trimsaran visited Heywood Lane and recorded a 32-0 win, Tenby knew that they were in for a hard match, but with just three minutes of playing time remaining, it was the home side who found themselves 17-18 in arrears. Read on... Kicking off with the breeze in their favour, Tenby were up against it immediately when classy number 12 Justin Owens sliced through the centre, only to see his inside scoring pass knocked-on by the supporting back row forward. From the ensuing scrum, Tenby were penalised for not binding and Dean Feltwell hammered the penalty against the upright. A lucky let-off. Trimsaran continued to test the visitors' defence with some slick inter-play involving both backs and forwards, but it was Tenby who troubled the scorers first. An excellent tackle by Jimmy Davies allowed the impressive Sam Smith to pick-up the rolling ball and release Arthur M-M. The ball was scrambled into touch and from a clean catch and drive in the lineout by Gareth Edwards, the Tenby eight rolled toward the Trimsaran line, with prop Lee Tucker barging his way over for a very good try. Trimsaran continued to run the ball wide, with centre Owens a real thorn in the visitors side, but it was ironic that the first score to Trimsaran came from a lost ball in the tackle situation which saw some excellent inter-passing on the short side resulting in Emyr Richards crashing over wide out. Feltwell did not repeat his previous mistake as he dissected the uprights with a well-taken conversion for a 7-5 lead. Tom Dennis was beginning to trouble the home side, both in attack and defence, and from one classical tackle and steal he released Neil Duffy, who in turn linked with Sam Smith. Sam was held- up short of the line, as was Lee Tucker, who tried to burrow his way over. Trimsaran were beginning to become frustrated by the continuous attacking play of Tenby, which was equally matched by the visitors' solid defensive display and not what was expected from a club one position off the bottom of the league. Tackles by Tom Dennis, Jimmy Davies, Will Crockford and the pocket dumper truck known as Harry Bolton were beginning to frustrate the home side, who reverted to a bit of shirt tugging to prevent a Tenby player supporting yet another attack. From the resulting penalty, Jimmy Davies put Tenby a deserved 8-7 in front. The frustration boiled over when all 30 players were involved in a dust-up, with the referee instructing the captains to warn their respective teams that any more dirty play would see him flash his yellow card. True to his word, 60 seconds later, the Trimsaran flanker was sent to the sideline for a 10-minute rest. The eight-man Tenby pack applied immense pressure to the Trimsaran seven and destroyed their scrum as they got shunted back at a great speed of knots. From a ruck situation and their defence all at sea, bulky flanker Justin Richards powered over and with Davies again successful with the kick, Tenby held a comfortable 15-7 lead. Trimsaran briefly threatened, but yet another tackle and steal, this time by the hard-working lock Gareth Edwards, stopped the move in its tracks, with the referee blowing for half-time. With the wind in their favour, it was expected that veteran number 10 Peter Jones would simply peg back Tenby in the corners with his raking kicks, allowing the home eight to trundle over. His first effort at carrying out this attacking ploy backfired big time as the ball ran dead from his kick on the halfway line. From the resulting scrum, scrum-half Neil Duffy broke wide and linked with number eight Sam Smith. A quick bout of inter-passing by the same two players committed Trimsaran to the ruck and when Smith broke away and cleverly linked with centre Jimmy Davies, Trimsaran were penalised for offside and Davies obliged, putting the visitors 18 -7 in the lead. Trimsaran attempted to get their speedy wingers into the game, but time and time were cut down by some ferocious tackles, with players being driven back, which resulted in their close supporting players being played out of the game. One over- exuberant tackle, however, by Lee Tucker, who was deemed to have not released the ball, had a double whammy for Tenby. Feltwell slotted over the penalty to close the gap to 18-10 and Tuck spent the next 10 minutes watching his team from the sidelines. It was Tenby who were now up against it, but to a man every player upped his contribution and played as if their lives depended on the result. With Edwards gaining his fair share of the opponents lineout ball, as well as securing his own, and number 10 Arthur M-M pinning the home side back with some excellent kicks against the wind, it was starting to look like an unexpected win for the travelling Tenby outfit. The valiant effort being put in was typified when scrum-half Duffy held up the home side's number eight Emmanuel when he had crossed the line and a score looked a formality. A sudden rush of blood to the head by the hard working flanker Richards, however, put Tenby under immense pressure. From a rolling maul that was going backwards, Richards broke away and tried to kick the ball into touch - right idea, but the execution went horribly wrong, with the ball going high and wide and not in the direction of the touchline. In an attempt to rectify his mistake, Richards charged at the player who had caught the ball, who with a neat side-step avoided the on-rushing forward, who vainly stuck out a leg, tripping the Trimsaran man. An obvious yellow card offence and a tiring Tenby outfit yet again down to 14 men, with 15 minutes still on the clock. Worse was to follow when from a scrum on the Tenby line, the seven-man visitors' pack was being shunted back when number eight Emmanuel broke from the base and, while attempting to link with his supporting half-backs, Neil Duffy was deemed to have deliberately palmed a pass downward - from the touchline, a very harsh decision indeed. Referee Richmond awarded a penalty try and with the two points added Tenby were now left to defend a narrow 18-17 lead. Again the Tenby defence was heroic, with crunching tackles put in by backs Arthur M-M, Tom Dennis, Jimmy Davies and Llewellyn Rose, while forwards Bolton, Williams, Tucker, Lane and Edwards all tackled themselves to a standstill. It spoke volumes of the defence that the much vaunted Trimsaran attack had to revert to drop shots at goal in an attempt to eat into the narrow Tenby lead and with minutes remaining their persistence paid dividends, with Jones repaying his forwards, who had worked a scoring position, by drilling over a drop goal from the 22 and for only the second time in the match putting Trimsaran in the lead 20-18. From the restart, the ball failed to travel the necessary 10 metres and immediately Trimsaran went on the attack and in their eagerness to try to rescue the game Tenby strayed offside and Feltwell was successful with the penalty, which meant that in three minutes a winning 18-17 scoreline had cruelly turned into a 23-18 defeat. Despite the sickening feeling of losing a game at the death, spirits in the Tenby camp were buoyant, a feeling made all the more sweeter when the results involving the other three teams in the dog fight at the foot of the table were obtained. Critical home defeats of both Hendy and Amman United, along with a 111-5 hammering taken by Tumble meant that no ground had been lost to any of the fellow strugglers. With a critical home game lined up against Hendy tomorrow (Saturday) and an away trip to Amman United the following Saturday, February could be the turning point in what so far has been a disappointing season for the Heywood Lane outfit. Tenby fielded: Llewellyn Rose - Tenby Auto Centre Car Sales; Will Crockford - Tenby Glass; James Davies - N.D. Toy & Partners Ltd, Independent Financial Advisors and Mortgage Brokers; Tom Dennis - Anne and Jeremy Rossiter, of Londis Stores, Manorbier; Randell Watkins - W3 Designs, Affordable Web Design; Arthur Maulio-Martino - Rossiters Funeral Directors, of Tenby & District; Neil Duffy - Pam Pam Restaurant, Tenby; Lee Tucker - Lewis, Lewis & Co, Solicitors; Mike Lewis (Nicky Guymer) - John Boot, of Lydstep; Johnny Lane - The Bay Tree Restaurant, Tenby; Wyndham Williams - Alan Jones, Tenby Utd. RFC chairman; Gareth Edwards - Rumbleway Caravan Park; Justin Richards (Chris Brace) - Gavin and Dudley Scotcher, Capital Roasters Coffee Co.; Sam Smith - Mike Brace Home Maintenance Service; Harry Bolton (capt) - Neil Finlay Car Sales.