Football - Pembrokeshire League Division One Narberth 1 Merlins Bridge 2 It was thirteenth time unlucky for Narberth as they followed up 12 league wins in succession by conceding a late, late goal to Simon Gilderdale which saw Merlins Bridge snatch the win.

Gilderdale had already forced the Wizards level after Narberth had opened the scoring through veteran striker Wayne Howells.

The Bridge striker again demonstrated his side's ability to forge late comebacks as reward for their never-say-die spirit.

It left the Bluebirds to regret missing several chances to seal the points when they were already a goal to the good.

It took the teams 30 minutes to size each other up, with neither able to build any real periods of pressure.

Narberth had shots from Raff Barnett and Dai Gillard comfortably saved by Bridge keeper Dai Smith, while Narberth keeper Huw Davies was able to watch shots from Carl Mason (after some superb ball control) and Peter Thomas fly just wide of the target.

Simon Thomas probed well alongside Mason and the Bridge looked sharp in midfield but found Charlie Smith marshalling the home defence well alongside James Stephens, Richard Henton and Dai Lee.

The Bluebirds should have scored before the interval as Richard Nash jinked through but chipped the ball over the bar, the lofty midfielder also stretching to head a cross from Wayne Howells wide of the far post. Howells hit a shot over the bar and Gillard also put his drive wide of the mark.

It took 13 minutes of the second period before the deadlock was broken. Dai Lee and Marc Scourfield combined to put Gill unselfishly squared the ball across the goal-line to give Howells the simplest of left-foot tap-ins.

They should have added a second within three minutes as James Stephens did really well to nod a far post corner back into the danger zone where Nash's goal-bound header was blocked by his own player, and Gillard's rebound was cleared after it had rapped the bar.

The Bridge brought on Matt D'Ivery and Lee Watters for the final quarter and both were soon involved as they recovered from a bad spell as Ormond, Kevin Phillips, Peter Thomas and Steffan Atyeo tightened up at the back to push forward via Mason and Nathan Thomas.

They drew level after 72 minute when Nathan Thomas' corner wasn't cleared and Gilderdale pounced to volley the ball home from 12 yards.

And that is the way the score stayed until the very last minute when Watters crossed the ball in from the left and Sean Jones did well to push it back across the box for Gilderdale to calmly tuck his sot past a helpless Davies.