Tenby United 15 pts Loughour 27

It was another case of deja vu for GD Harries & Sons sponsored Tenby United at Heywood Lane on Saturday, as once again they let a half-time lead slip through their fingers and finish with a disappointing defeat.

Still searching for their first win in division one west, the Seasiders opened strongly against visiting Loughor, who themselves have been struggling near the bottom of the table this season.

In fact, they got the scoreboard ticking over as early as the third minute, when after a patient build-up and good ball retention, outside-half Scott James showed good strength as he stole through a gap to bag a touchdown.

The try went unconverted, but by the 14th minute, the United had stretched their advantage to eight points as James was this time on target with a penalty goal.

Midway through the half, Loughor hit back when they showed their strength up front to drive over from a five-metre lineout, with hooker Kyle Tucker claiming the touchdown.

Outside-half Peter Smiriglia banged over the conversion and the deficit was now down to just one point.

It was not long before that eight-point gap was back, though, as from the Loughor restart, the United gained possession when skipper Luke Hansford stole ruck ball and caught the visitors napping as he sniped his way over beneath the sticks.

Scott James popped over the simple conversion, but Smiriglia was on target with a penalty goal five minutes later to make the half-time score 15-10 to the United.

At the break, home camp hopes of a victory at last were now high, as the Seasiders had turned in a good first half performance and fully deserved their lead.

But those hopes were soon dented as eight minutes into the second period, Loughor bagged the lead for the first time when flanker Tom Davies took advantage of another five-metre lineout drive to claim their second try, again converted by Smiriglia.

It was now the visitors who held a two-point advantage and changes were made by the United in an attempt to arrest the situation. Rob Clarke replaced Rob Luly in the front row, Nicky Allen came on for second row Alex Thomas, while in the backline, Mark Heywood was replaced by James Criddle.

But they were unable to turn things round as Loughor themselves edged further ahead through another penalty, while late on the United were forced into another change as winger Jamie Williams had to leave the field with a painful shoulder injury, to be replaced by Richard Rossiter.

With the clock ticking down, the United were forced to run everything in attempt to achieve victory, but unfortunately for them, while attacking from under their own posts, Loughour centre Shane Davies saw his opportunity to intercept and cross for an opportunist try.

Smiriglia again added the extras and not only did it give a false look to the scoreline, but also denied the United a much deserved bonus point.

Once again the Seasiders had shown great effort and commitment throughout, but unfortunately, yet again when leading, they were just unable to turn that final screw and claim a victory.

They have four league games remaining, two at home and two away, one of the latter being at Kidwelly tomorrow (Saturday).

Incidentally, the United are also looking forward to a mouth-watering clash in the Pembrokeshire KO Cup, having been drawn to play away to Whitland in the semi-finals. No date has yet been fixed for that though.