Superb: James Adie gets in a tackle to halt Daryl

Tenby 3 V Carew 1

On their return to the top flight of the Pembrokeshire League after a seven year absence, Carew produced a brilliant display of free-flowing football and will consider themselves highly unfortunate not to have come away from The Clicketts with at least a point, if not more.

As expected from one of the county’s best sides, Tenby came flying out of the blocks in the opening 10 minutes, but for all their dominance in possession they couldn’t find a way through a well organised Carew backline, marshalled by skipper Iwan Izzard and centre back partner Shaun Whitfield.

Growing in confidence, Carew started to dominate the midfield battle and subsequently got a firm foothold in the game, and when Scott Ferney put pressure on Alex Harley in the Tenby defensive third, the ball broke to Haydn Shapcott who broke free on goal and slotted the ball calmly into the corner, giving Tenby keeper Mike Brown no chance.

Having deservedly taken the lead, Carew went on to create two further one on one chances, however both unfortunately went the wrong side of the post, keeping the hosts in the game, and with half time looming Carew were made to pay the price.

With 45 minutes on the clock, when a hopeful long ball into the Carew box was only partially cleared, left back Jerome Mansbridge was the first to react, and his instinctive half volley made its way through a crowded box, just eluding Carew stopper Tom Davies to find the corner, sending the sides in level at half time.

After the interval, with both sides playing some brilliant football, a chess match ensued for 15 minutes, with both midfields looking to get the upper hand. However it was Carew who looked the more threatening, and in winger James Adie they had a constant outlet, as he went past fullback Ashley Andrews time and time again, creating several opportunities which Carew failed to convert.

With 25 minutes to go, the visitors were taught a harsh lesson about Division One, when their wasted opportunities came back to haunt them, as Tenby took the lead against the run of play.

When awarded an innocuous free-kick on the half way line, Tenby once more sought to pump it long. With the ball hanging in the air, Tom Davies came to claim the ball for Carew, but when he fumbled, Jay Richards was on hand to stab the ball home into an empty net, giving Tenby what had seemed an unlikely lead in the most fortuitous of circumstances.

Testament to Carew’s performance was that Tenby then sought to run the clock down at every opportunity and manager Phil Cattlin was forced to bring himself on at centre back to add defensive reinforcements. Despite this Carew still managed to create further goal-scoring chances, the best of which fell to substitute James Hinchliffe, whose left footed effort rolled agonisingly wide of the far upright.

In their desperation to survive, Tenby produced several rash tackles that could have seen the side reduced to 10 or possibly 9 men, but with the referee unwilling to punish the offences, the home side were allowed to maintain their defensive shape. They were further let off when the referee turned down a strong penalty shout from the visitors with just 5 minutes remaining.

As Carew desperately pressed for an equaliser deep into injury time, a long clearance form Cattlin saw Daryl Mansbridge race free down the left, and his pinpoint cross found former Carew player Jake Proctor in the middle, who headed home unmarked from 6 yards to give the scoreline a rather unbalanced feel.