Whitland 16.

Bargoed 24.

Whitland bowed out of the Welsh cup after a hard-fought battle with Bargoed, currently second in division one East, who showed their forward strength to set up the platform for victory.

The Borderers stuck to their task and were actually ahead at the three-quarter mark, but then conceded two tries, both with a fortuitous bounce to aid wingers Lee Pearson and Lewis Protheroe.

It was home winger Christiaan Roets who gave the match a rousing start, marking his return from a family holiday back in South Africa with a try from the first move of the game.

Whitland set up a good lineout drive and fly half Emyr Williams took on the opposition cover before slipping a short pass to Roets who came in at an angle and skated through to the posts for Williams to convert.

Bargoed responded on 22 minutes after enjoying a period of pressure when Whitland were unable to keep hold of the ball for long. Outside half Jamie Howells finished off a move he had started by darting over in the corner, before adding the difficult conversion to level matters.

But the Borderers struck back almost immediately when Williams landed a simple penalty awarded for offside.

But, they trailed at the interval after Bargoed centre Darren Humphries burst out of a maul unopposed and raced 20 metres to the posts for Howells to add the simple extras.

Whitland moved Jonathan Morgan to scrum half just before he had ten minutes in the sin-bin and Bargoed had replacement lock Adam Chidsey sent off for allegedly throwing a punch.

The Borderers brought on fresh legs in Phil Morgan, Gareth Williams and Aled Harries up front and when Emyr Williams kicked two penalties, with Howells off target in between, a home win seemed on the cards with a one-man advantage.

But then Lee Pearson kicked ahead, regathered and benefited from a second good bounce from another chip forward to score an unconverted try.

Then Lewis Protheroe also chased a kick ahead and gathered the ball to speed over the line to send Bargoed into round five and leave the Borderers reflecting on what might have been.

Whitland: Will Davies; Christiaan Roets; Lee Glanville; Matthew John; Jonathan Morgan; Emyr Williams; Gareth Davies; Alun Davies; Mark Jones; Richard Smith; Raff Williams; Carwyn Davies: Cameron Spiers; Ryan Michael; Randall Williams (Capt). Replacements: Aled Harries; Gareth Williams; John Bowen; Wayne Morris; Phil Morgan; Dion Thomas; Aled Evans.