Tenby United's mixed fortunes in National League division three (west) took another downturn at Heywood Lane on Saturday as the Seasiders slumped to a 37 points to nine defeat at the hands of Cwmavon.

Riding high in the upper echelons of the division, Cwm outmuscled the United in the set-pieces, while their pacy threequarter line cruelly exposed deficiencies in the homesters' midfield cover to run in four tries without reply.

An inability to secure quality ball in both the linesout and scrums, enabled the visitors to put the Seasiders under the cosh for long periods, with pivot Richard Evans choosing his options wisely to keep his former Tenby team-mates on the back foot.

To their credit, Tenby never stopped competing for the full 80 minutes, but they had little answer to the penetration of centre's Justin Knight and Huw Edwards, while burly wing John Mizen was a constant thorn in their side, nippy and probing on the blind side to keep Cwm going forward.

Although Mizen picked up an injury on 40 minutes, which saw him sidelined for the second half, by then the damage had been done, with the visitors sitting on a comfortable 24-6 lead.

Tenby opened the scoring with a Neil Powling penalty, but Cwmavon hit back virtually from the restart, with number eight David Edwards muscling through midfield to touch down near the posts.

Fullback Darren Jones slotted over the conversion and again added the extras when Knight and Mizen combined to send flanker Daryl Thomas through the midfield for Cwm's second try.

Tenby competed tirelessly in the loose, with Mike Evans, Nicky Allen and Justin Richards joining forces with hooker Richard Rossiter to win useful possession off the floor, but the Seasiders were unable to break through the tight-knit Cwm defence.

Linesout also proved a problem for Tenby. While Peter James and Paul Broaders struggled manfully, the Seasiders missed the prowess of high-jumping Kiwi Matt Cammack, with visiting lock Stuart Williams being able to capitalise to provide the platform for scrum-half Gareth John.

Cwm edged further in front with a Jones penalty, before Powling reduced the deficit with a penalty of his own.

Cwm struck right back, with centre Knight again exposing the midfield defence, smashing his way through from a tap penalty miss-move to touch down near the posts.

Jones again banged over the conversion to open up an 18-point gap.

Going into the last 10 minutes of the first half, a touch of complacency crept into the visitors' ranks, with handling errors galore, but the Seasiders were unable to capitalise, the only real scoring opportunity being a Powling penalty which was pulled wide.

During the break, Cwm replaced the injured Mizen with Anthony Tanner, while Tenby substituted centre Paul Luger with young Mark Heywood.

Cwm extended their lead just after the turn around with another Jones penalty and could have gone further ahead still when Edwards bulldozed through some 40 metres from the restart before being halted by some tenacious cover tackling by Heywood and Jonathan Dodd.

Although Tenby still struggled in the set-pieces, they grafted in the loose and young scrum-half Will Crockford, having a real baptism of fire in his first game out of Youth, grew in stature as play progressed, sniping away from the base.

Powling landed another penalty, but it was cancelled out by another successful place kick from Jones.

Cwm flanker Thomas looked to have picked up his second try when he barged through from close range, but the visitors were penalised for crossing in the looping build-up.

The let-off seemed to give Tenby renewed heart, Crockford, Richards, Allen and Evans breaking through the Cwm line.

Tenby recycled well from the drive to move play open, but Gavin Brace was unable to smash through the visitors' defence.

Tenby netted a penalty, but prop Lee Tucker was also unable to drive the Cwm defence back to ground the ball.

In the last quarter, Tenby actually held a territorial advantage over the visitors, but handling problems, unforced errors and tenacious spoiling by the Cwm defence denied them opportunities to turn pressure into points.

Replacement wing Tanner increased Cwm's lead when he skirted over on the blind side from a close range scrum and Jones did well to land the conversion from wide out, although he was off target minutes later with a more simple penalty strike.

In the closing stages, Tenby brought Chris Brace into the pack in place of Paul Broaders, but Cwm were not to be denied their seventh victory in eight outings to take them to the top of the table.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Tenby travel to Felinfoel in a vital basement battle.

Tenby United fielded: Dean Bowen, Jonathan Dodd, Gavin Brace, Paul Luger, Gareth Jones, Neil Powling, Will Crockford, Lee Tucker, Richard Rossiter, Gareth Noot, Paul Broaders, Peter James, Mike Evans, Nicky Allen (capt.), Justin Richards.