Manorbier entertained local rivals Tenby in division three on Saturday and took the upper hand in the first half, when a clipped ball over the top from Blackwell, a square pass from Spic, and a cool finish by Lane made the game look very simple indeed.

At 1-0, Manorbier were totally on top, creating a succession of chances - but crucially failing to convert whilst they were in the ascendancy.

Then, Sam Christopher pounced on a collective failure by the entire Manorbier defence to clear the ball, and spanked the ball into the hosts' net past Llewellyn to make it 1-1.

Against the run of play, Tenby's influence had somehow managed to take root in the game.

Turning around for the second half, Manorbier expected to assert themselves and take the spoils - but it was Tenby who took the lead. They moved the ball up the right flank, but Manorbier looked to have the situation well covered. Then, at a crucial moment, and perhaps due to his being inculcated in the local customs in Qatar, James Hall decided to kneel down and pray to the east (he later claimed to have slipped), allowing Christopher to walk straight through the middle of the defence unchallenged and slot the ball into the net.

Tenby then seemed to get on top of the game, while Manorbier became disjointed - the midfield failing to link with the attack and the quality of their football declining dramatically from the first half.

However, against the run of play, as the Tenby defence surged out to play offside, a perfectly timed run by Ben Hall left him free in the box, and he tickled the ball into the net past a dumbfounded Liam Robson, 2-2.

For the rest of the game there was huffing and puffing, passes made, passes missed, tackles made, tackles missed - and with five minutes to go, the contest seemed to be heading for a well-deserved draw for both sides.

But then a speculative ball into the box from Liam Culshaw, aided and abetted by a slightly disjointed Manorbier back line, managed to find its way to Christopher once again. Like the nettles overwhelming the old rose in my garden, he stung the hosts when he completed his hat-trick, to win the game 3-2 for the visitors.

With three games left in the season, against opposition at the bottom of the table, Manorbier look to be heading for a UEFA Cup place! A respectable return for a season in which stability has finally returned to a club which can now build on solid foundations, and look forward to a promotion push in 2013.