Bridgend Ath. 24 pts. Narberth 23

Another losing bonus point was no compensation for the Otters for yet another defeat and their fifth on the trot.

Yet again the margin between victory and defeat was very marginal, but the Narberth team would have left Newbridge Fields very downbeat after their tremendous work rate had failed to obtain a corner-turning win.

The visitors lost the toss and were invited to play with a strong wind crossing their backs in a diagonal manner from the corner flag on their own line, blowing across the field to the corner flag on the Athletic line.

Predictably they used the wind to good effect, but would have liked to have scored more points before the interval when Narberth led 23-11.

The 11 points scored by Athletic against the wind were priceless, particularly as the Otters failed to score in the second half, despite getting close on a number of occasions.

An early penalty kick by outside-half Aled Davies, supplemented by a penalty try after good work in the scrum by the Narberth pack, set up a lead of 10 points after 20 minutes.

Athletic outside-half Steve Lewis slotted over a short range penalty to reduce the deficit, but his opposite number, Aled Davies, replied with a penalty of his own to restore the lead to 10 points.

A yellow card for Narberth prop Tom Slater gave the Bridgend team an extra man, but it was the visitors who scored with an exhilarating interception try by winger Tom Bonnell. The alert flier grabbed the ball just outside the 40-metre line and raced up field to touch down under the posts for a try which Davies converted.

On the stroke of half-time, Athletic winger Lloyd Pemberton finished off an excellent move by bursting clear to score in the left corner. The difficult conversion kick by Steve Lewis was on target and the points scored by the home team in the first half kept the Bridgend team in the game and in effect were the difference between winning and losing.

In injury tine, Aled Davies slotted over a penalty from 40 metres to give the visitors a lead of 12 points at the interval.

Five minutes into the second half, Steve Lewis was on target with another penalty and five minutes later, wing Lindsay McCausland touched down in the right corner for a try which was converted by Lewis from the touchline, to nudge Athletic in front for the first time.

Steve Lewis extended the lead for his team with a penalty after 16 minutes and somewhat surprisingly no further points were scored by either team.

Although Lewis Wood, of Narberth, and John Stoker, of Bridgend Athletic, both received red cards after 30 minutes, it had no bearing on the result as no more points were scored after 16 minutes of the second half..

Although the result was not what the Narberth camp would have wished, team manager Robert Lewis confirmed that the players had given their all. Speaking to Observer Sport, he said: "It was very disappointing once more today, we seem to have no luck going for us at present and we lost by one point again.

"The boys put in a lot of hard work and could not be faulted for their efforts, but we must eliminate the number of penalties conceded and the strong wind was dreadful for both teams.

"We lost the toss and had to play with the wind in the first half, but did not get enough points on the board.

"Whenever they had the ball in the second half, they hoofed it down field. We got stuck in and moved the ball back up field, but we were unable to get the final break for a win.

"Some players stood out, particularly locks Alex Jenkins and Chris Scarf, and Steve Martin gave one hundred per cent on the wing."

Narberth fielded: Roger Davies, Tom Bonnell, Lee Glanville, Richard Davies, Steve Martin, Aled Davies, Andrew Davies, Tom Slater, Dan Smith, Justin Hughes (capt.), Alec Jenkins, Chris Scarf, Gareth Bateman, Wayne Williams and Lewis Wood.

Replacements: Nick Jones, Simon Griffiths, Adrian Killa, Lewis Davies, and Mark Heywood.