Laugharne 31 Aberaeron 24

Admiral National League 3 West A

Aberaeron continued on their travels for the third consecutive Saturday with a visit to the home of Dylan Thomas.

Both teams had promising starts to the campaign and previous encounters had always been close affairs. This one proved to be no exception with the result in the balance until the closing moments in what turned out to be in controversial fashion.

Enforced changes in the visitors forward ranks proved crucial against a very strong home outfit and it took a while to gain parity in the set pieces.

Aberaeron’s major threat was behind the scrum with pace and guile in abundance and they were to make the early breakthrough, initially with a penalty from Rhodri Jenkins quickly followed by a sniping try from Dafydd Llewelyn, with Jenkins again successful.

Laugharne came back strongly with their own converted effort only for Ryan Williams to regain the lead with a try, duly converted by the outside half.

The lead was further extended early in the second half with Bobby Jones registering his first for the club and the conversion gave Aberaeron a 14 point advantage.

With the clock ticking down, the hosts raised their game and were rewarded with a converted try to bring the scores level.

A draw would have been a fair result but controversy reigned deep in injury time. With the ball seemingly crossing the touchline from a kick ahead the linesman initially raised his flag signalling a throw in, only to lower it moments later and with the visitors expecting a stop in play, a Laugharne player took advantage of the confusion to gather the ball and cross the line unopposed.

Despite Aberaeron’s representations, the score was allowed to stand and what had been a keenly contested encounter finished with a bitter taste. Having given their all against the odds its always difficult to accept a loss in such controversial fashion, and a losing bonus point was scant reward for the afternoon’s effort.