Burry Port hosted Llandeilo in an entertaining but frustrating game at the Memorial Park in division 3 West B. Observing a minute silence for former Burry Port player Ted Mckibbin, in their changed strip the team started well and dominated the early exchanges and went close to scoring on a number of occasions.
The visitors defence held firm and Ben Williams slotted over a penalty to open the scoring. Llandeilo slowly started to come back into the game and could thank indiscipline from the home defence who were penalised repeatedly at the breakdown. This changed the momentum of the game the first half was then dominated by the visitors who ran in two tries. Williams pulled a penalty back to make it 6 - 18 at half time.
The second half saw a more controlled performance from Burry Port and they kicked more sensibly and applied pressure throughout the half. Dominating possession it was a frustrating time for supporters with a scrambling Llandeilo defence often infringing. A penalty was awarded in front of the posts and Williams slotted it over to make it 9 - 18. Most of the game was now being played in the Llandeilo 22 but a breakaway saw slick hands and support play that resulted in a Llandeilo try under the posts making it 9 - 25. This proved costly, but credit to the Burry Port players to stick to their game plan and kicking to the corners to turn the screw.
A series of catch and drives were pulled down much to the frustration of the home supporters and with the ref awarding penalty after penalty, it was a relief when Gareth Gravell crossed for a good forwards effort. Williams added the conversion to set up a thrilling last 15 minutes. The Llandeilo defence has to be credited for their efforts and they were allowed to slow the ball down and with time running out Burry Port kicked a penalty to bring it to 19 - 25. Burry Port threw everything they had setting up a nail-biting finish and came close to scoring many times when they were camped on the Llandeilo line. The ref finally gave a yellow card but in the last moments of the game and with Burry Port needing a try to sneak a win they threw caution to the wind and launched a number of attacks that just came short. The ref blew up and ended a game at 19 -25.
Burry Port could have won but it highlighted areas of improvements for coach Gareth Gravell to work on before the trip to Lampeter next week. Despite the result there were positives and the dominance at the set piece was obvious. Burry Port stay top of a highly competitive division with a game in hand.
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