Dean drives Seagulls to defeat (From Western Telegraph)

Dean drives Seagulls to defeat

Fishguard and Goodwick 5 Gowerton 29

Fishguard and Goodwick paid the inevitable price for having several key players unavailable as they went down to a home defeat against a bigger and stronger Gowerton side which had a strong spine of experience down its middle and always had the edge, despite the yeoman efforts of the Seagulls to stop them.

Gowerton hooker Phil Hadley, No 8 Gerald Williams, fly half Dean Evans and full back Andrew Gleeson have played at a higher level and were instrumental in guiding Gowerton home.

Ex-Swansea player Williams served notice of intent in the first minute as he charged through the middle but was stopped by a tackle from Huw Morris - but Fishguard were penalised at the ensuing maul and they had a lucky escape as ex-Dunvant man Evans missed a simple kick just to the left of the posts.

He was also wide of the mark from the other side of the field but made it third time lucky from another Seagulls error as he landed his penalty from 30 metres in front of the posts.

Gowerton lost scrum half Chris Taylor and brought on 41-year-old Steve Brannigan in his place before they scored a soft unconverted try that owed much to weak Fishguard tackling and the opportunism of pivot Evans, who made a break, chipped ahead and took the kind bounce cleanly to race away from the home cover.

Evan Davies, only hours back from a trip to Florida, came on as hooker, with acting skipper Chris Mitchell moving to prop in place of teenager Andrew Morello - and the Seagulls had two chances to break their duck but left wing Gareth Davies was wide of the target on both occasions.

There was another blow for Fishguard as Gowerton left winger Gareth John sped down the flank and home flanker Morris was harshly yellow-carded for a high tackle just before the break.

Worse was to follow after the break because from the lick off Gowerton attacked and No 8 Williams scored on the left after play had switched direction twice, Dean Evans slotting the conversion.

As his pack won good ball, Evans also landed a penalty and was off the mark with another similar attempt and a drop goal chance - but the Seagulls showed resilience as Jonathan Jones and Rhys Williams made strong runs before a thrust featuring Evan Davies and fly half Steve Rowe allowed Graham Davies, far and away the best home player, to crash over the line with bodies clinging to him.

The conversion by Gareth Davies failed and Gowerton came back with two successful penalties from Dean Evans before they also applied the coup de grace as centre Paul Williams made the initial break and winger Julian Williams sped around his marker and also beat full back Gerwyn Hughes on the outside, avoiding the touchline to score an opportunist try from 40 metres which sealed an away success and left Seagulls canny coach Randal Evans hoping for the return of a few players who will steady things down in the Fishguard camp.