Kicking off with blustery conditions dominating at Heywood Lane, the United set about clawing back the five league points that separated the two teams in the league as well as intent on avenging an earlier defeat at Tumble.
From the very first maul, scrum-half Will Crockford slipped a neat pass to hooker Richard Rossiter who cleverly chipped over the oncoming defence to set-up an excellent attacking position close to the corner flag. Try as they might, the visitors could not force play away from the corner and several bursts for the line involving Crockford, 'Chunk' James and Tucker were foiled, but a score did materialise when Gavin Brace selected an excellent line of running to slice through the stretched defence to go over near the posts. Darren Rees added the extra two points.
It was the home side who were next on the rack when a neat kick-through and chase was minored, leading to a five-metre scrum. Play switched across the field and the home defence was eventually breached, with flanker Colin Hopkins waltzing through some very ineffective tackling to score a very well worked try. Steven Hewitt brought the scores level with the conversion.
Stung by this quick response, the home side set-up a series of mauls deep in the visitors' territory which saw several bursts for the try line by 'Chunk', Tucker and Crockford, with Andrew Davies being held-up over the try line. Anthony Griffiths combined well with fellow back row men Allen and Chunk, with Dan Shooter on hand to carry-on the move. A sloppy pass to Gavin Brace, who was clear and unmarked, saw the scoring opportunity wasted.
Harry Bolton was next to test the overworked visitors' defence when he made a good clearance kick by fullback Darren Rees into an excellent kick by chasing and charging down the kick by the visitors' fullback, only to slightly knock-on when trying to gather the rolling ball at pace.
Rees just missed with a long-range penalty for a high tackle, but made amends minutes later when he fired over from similar range.
Awarded a rather harsh penalty for holding, Crockford took a quick tap and go and slipped the ball to the supporting Mark Brace who, much to the delight of the vocal spectators, sold an outrageous dummy and crashed into the last line of defence to set-up a ruck. Quick ball was wasted when a bullet-like pass from Crockford went to ground off a supporting Tenby player when a soft sympathetic unload would have resulted in a scoring opportunity.
The visitors, however, were slow to clear the danger from the resulting scrum and a penalty award was slotted over by Rees to increase the lead to 13-7.
Determined to finish the half on a high, the visitors mounted several attacks on the Tenby line, with fullback Hewitt getting near to a score when Rees was forced to touch down over the try line. The ensuing scrum provided the platform Tumble needed to mount their attack and this was enriched with three successive penalties awarded against the home side, the last of which saw wing Gareth Jones dance through several would-be tackles to score wide-out. Hewitt added the extras to give Tumble an unexpected lead as the referee blew for half-time.
The second half started with the visitors getting the first opportunity to score, but Hewitt fired his penalty attempt wide of the uprights. Stung by this threat, the home side mounted a series of attacks in which Mark Brace, Crockford, Tucker and Richard Rossiter figured prominently, but nothing materialised from this phase of play.
The game had become a tad scrappy as both sides struggled to gain control of the game and several charges by the home forwards petered out as possession was lost on contact allowing Tumble to clear the danger.
Coach Thomas brought on Scott Payne to replace the hard-working Mark Brace, a substitution that was quickly followed by another front row change as Mark Badham replaced the injured Richard Rossiter.
From an excellent clean take in the lineout by the influential Nicky Allen a situation was set-up which saw the visitors penalised for slowing the ball at a ruck and Rees fired the home side back into the lead.
As previously, the game degenerated into a somewhat scrappy affair, with both sides struggling to come to grips with some of the decisions whistled-up by referee Morgan.
What can best be described as a tug and a slap involving Jeremy Rossiter and scrum-half Gustafson, resulted in both players being yellow-carded. A penalty was awarded to the visitors right back on their 22 when play had actually been taken to beyond the halfway line and in a threatening position. Upset by this strange interpretation of advantage, several Tumble players vented their feelings on the referee who reversed the decision and Rees accepted the opportunity to put Tenby 19-14 in the lead.
James Caine replaced the very impressive Gareth Edwards in the boilerhouse for the final 10 minutes, just before Hewitt had reduced the lead to two points for handling in the ruck.
This was immediately followed by a yellow-carding of number eight Griffiths who, according to referee Morgan, had infringed in a ruck. Both sets of spectators voiced their disapproval of this latest call as Griffiths was clearly on his feet when he secured the ball. Luckily for the home side the penalty attempt sailed wide, as did a second opportunity when Caine was offside from a knock-on.
With extra-time being played and down to 13 men, the game cried out for the home side to shut-up shop and get the ball into touch or as far away from their line as possible. For whatever reason, this simple ploy was not followed and Tenby decided to open up the game from deep in their own half, only to lose possession, allowing the visitors to have one final assault on their line.
Matters were made worse when Tumble released their scrum-half back onto the field, claiming the 10 minutes had elapsed, and it was number nine Gustafson who made the crucial break that allowed second row Dumbrill to gallop over under the posts. Ironically, he crossed the line right opposite the spot where Jeremy Rossiter was still standing seeing out the last few seconds of the same 10-minute yellow card penalty. A second attempt at the conversion was successful and Tumble had been gifted a 24-19 victory.
Despite remonstrations by coach Thomas, the referee allowed the score to stand and went off to the club to face the WRU assessor.
This was a game Tenby could and should have won, with the result put way beyond any doubt by half-time. Missed chances, slow ball transfer, lateral attacking moves, ball lost in contact, all contributed to a situation which allowed the visitors to be in a situation to 'pinch' a lead and victory - opportunities they gratefully took both at half-time and on the final whistle.
PS Printing, Tenby, and Tredeml Print, Narberth, sponsored the match. The match ball sponsors were Jazz Sweet Shop (White Lion Street), Simon Welch and a loyal Tenby supporter. The man of the match award was donated by J. V. Rowe and Sons and mascot for the day was Corri Morris.
Tenby: Darren Rees, Harry Bolton, Dan Shooter, Gavin Brace, Jason Cole, Andrew Davies, Will Crockford, Mark Brace (Scott Payne), Richard Rossiter (Mark Badham), Lee Tucker, Gareth Edwards (James Caine), Jeremy Rossiter, Robert James, Anthony Griffiths, Nicky Allen. Sub not used - Adam Rees.