Tenby United 23 pts. Amman United 20

After the last two defeats, it was a must win game for the Tenby United on Saturday as the GD Harries, FBM Holidays, Kiln Park Holiday Centre, Molson Coors and Andrew Price sponsored side welcomed their old rivals Amman United to Heywood Lane.

If the earlier encounter between the two sides, which was played on the opening weekend of the season, was any sort of benchmark, then it was certainly going to live up to the usual hard fought games which have become the norm when these two sides clash.

When the United travelled to the Amman Valley back in September, it was the Amman side that raced ahead and led by a country mile at the interval, before the Seasiders found their rhythm and came back to draw the game at 37 points apiece, and it was a similar story this time as the home side raced ahead, only to be caught up later.

The Seasiders had definitely addressed some of the issues that have affected their results of late and the hard work the pack had put in on the training park was apparent early on as they took control and began to dominate their Amman counterparts and gained the upper hand in the forward battles by outscrummaging and outmuscling them at the breakdown, allowing scrum-half Emyr Jones to get quality ball away to the backs, who were keen to run the ball at every opportunity.

Jones, on loan from Newcastle Emlyn to fill in for the injured Will Crockford, kept the pack going strong all day, with number eight and man-of-the-match Rob Weston linking well with him and carrying well for the entire game, as did his back row comrades, Luke Hansford and Jason Ronowitz, along with centres Guerreiro and Smith, hitting holes in the Amman United defence and gaining vital yards.

Much of the first half was played deep in the visitors' half, thanks to the long range boot of outside-half Tom Lewis, who made sure that the ball was put into the right areas for the pack to set the platform for attack.

Lewis opened the scoring through an early penalty, which was well-earned thanks to the hard work of the back row, and he slotted another two minutes later to give the home side the early lead of six points to nil.

The Seasiders, led from the front by skipper Gareth Jones, didn't relax, though, and they kept pounding away at the Amman line and after some solid scrummaging from the Tenby eight, which rocked the visiting forwards, Weston picked up and was stopped just short of the line, but powerful lock Wyndham Williams was in support and barged his way over for the try, which Lewis duly converted to push the United 13 points to nil ahead.

Despite two Amman penalties from the boot of centre Rhys Thomas closing the gap to 13-6, it was the Seasiders who were to have the last word in the half.

Following another dominant scrum, scrum-half Jones sniped away from the Amman back row before linking with the powerful Toby Smith, who ran a great angle to link up with Jones and crashed through the remaining defenders to touch down for the try, which along with the extra two points from Lewis's conversion, meant that the Tenby side went into the interval with a healthy lead of 20 points to six.

After the oranges, which were gratefully received from Mo Crockford as always, it was the visitors who struck with an early and well-worked try.

It was winger Ross Chambers who crossed the line and Thomas who added the conversion from out wide, bringing Amman right back into the game.

Despite the Seasiders' pack still having the upper hand and the back division running well, it was becoming a much tighter fought affair as the visitors were also starting to run the ball from everywhere every time they had possession and they looked dangerous on each attack.

The home defence held strong for most of the second half, until Chambers managed to breach their line again in the 73rd minute after a well-worked move gave him a clear run in. The Thomas conversion that followed meant that the scores were tied at 20 points each going into the last five or so minutes of the game.

Tenby United's merry band of supporters definitely had their hearts in their mouths as the clock ran down, when they saw a Lewis penalty from deep in his own half go just wide of the upright and the Amman team launching wave after wave of attacks on the United's try line.

The earlier draw between the two sides looked likely to be repeated with it all-square at the 80-minute mark and many, including the Tenby backroom staff, would have gladly taken that and were willing the referee's whistle to signal the end of the match as Amman launched one more attack from inside the Seasiders' 2- metre line.

The Seasiders players, however, were having none of it and the back row managed to turn the ball over on the Tenby five-metre line and surely the ball would be cleared to touch and the draw taken at 20 points all?

That wasn't in the script the Seasiders' players had been reading from, though, as with gasps from the crowd, they ran the ball across the front of their line before breaking away upfield and after some tremendous inter-passing between what seemed like all 15 players, they found themselves on the Amman 22m line within the blink of an eye.

The game was surely over when the United's attack was brought to a halt by some desperate Amman defence, but a mistake from the visitors meant that one more card was dealt in that the Seasiders were awarded a penalty when an over-eager defender went off his feet at the ruck.

It was by no means an easy kick as the wind was now swirling around Heywood Lane and the angle was difficult and the range was long, but Thomas 'Turbo' Lewis stepped up, and despite a heavily strapped thigh, sent the ball flying through the sticks and into Oakridge Acres to the roar of the home supporters and the cries of disbelief from the Amman side of the fence.

Tenby won the game 23 points to 20 and held on for the vital win that had eluded them over the last few weeks.

The United travel to Carmarthen Athletic tomorrow (Saturday) and, with a lot of their players back in the squad after recent absences, will be stronger and certainly looking to add another important win in their Division One West campaign.

Please travel the short distance to support the boys, kick-off is 2.30 pm in Carmarthen.

Tenby United fielded: Dan Colley, Mark Heywood (Jordan Asparassa), Toby Smith, Jack Guerreiro, Gruff Jones, Tom Lewis, Emyr Jones, Rob Weston, Luke Hansford, Jason Ronowitz, Wyndham Williams, Luke Dedman, Rob Clark, Gareth Jones (capt), Rob Luly (Lyndon Jones).

Replacements - Mark Wooles, Wes Bonser, Matt Lewis.