Big effort needed - Gray (From Free Press Series)

Big effort needed - Gray

Pontypool coach David Gray acknowledged that everyone at the club needs to knuckle down to dig the side out of trouble after watching his men slump to their fourth consecutive league defeat - on this occasion against the Premier Division's bottom club, Carmarthen Quins.

The prospect of a relegation dogfight is again looming, and the pressure is building on players and coaches at Pontypool Park.

"Now is the time for all of us to knuckle down and fight our way out of trouble," Gray said. "The only way we can do that is by staying cool, supporting each other and sticking together. We will come through this because there is a huge amount of character in the side, but there is a lot of work in front of us."

Pooler were their own worst enemies against the Quins, squandering a stream of good possession with aimless kicking - particularly in the first half. Even the most ardent of Pooler fans found it all hard to swallow - not least because the home side could not breach the visitors' defence in the final stages, when the West Wales outfit had been reduced to 13 men. Gavin Lucas and his team improved as the game progressed, with outstanding hooker Leigh Meades, wing Lenny Woodard and young lock Dafydd Rosser prominent, but they could not complain about the final result.

"We are all very disappointed," added Gray. "We just kicked too much good possession away in the first 40 minutes. You just can't do that and hope to succeed in this league.

"The Quins were there for the taking, but we were simply not clinical enough in our approach work."

Meades and prop Nicky Blake crossed for home tries in the 25th and 66th minutes, respectively, with outside half Sam Mills converting the first. Quins skipper and centre Emyr Jones snapped up a try four minutes after the restart - his 100th for the club - while Wales under-19 star Rhys Priestland kicked four penalties.

Pontypool almost snatched the game out of the fire in the dying minutes. Referee Nigel Owens sin-binned visiting flanker, Gareth Williams (deliberate knock on) and centre Tal Selly (late tackle), both in the 78th minute. Pooler sensed they had been given a 'get out of jail' card but, despite wave after wave of attacks, they could not make the breakthrough.

Then, in the ninth minute of injury time, home centre Scott Williams burst upfield in one final assault that looked highly promising - until he was recalled for a forward pass.

Pontypool have lost all three matches against these opponents this term. They went down 6-3 at Carmarthen on September 10, and were beaten 28-14 on December 3 in the Konica Minolta Cup third-round tie.

Pontypool: D Smith (C Jones 29), L Woodard, A Sliczny, S Williams, N Daniels, S Mills, A Quick, N Giles, L Meades, N Blake, (J Corsi 67), D Rosser, D Cox, M Amos, L Burns (G Donaldson 20, R Dix 75) and G Lucas, capt.

Scorers: Tries - L Meades and N Blake; con - S Mills.

Carmarthen Quins: G King, A Jones, T Selly, E Jones, capt., A Rees, R Priestland (C Evans 67), L Marsh, S Lloyd, D George (J Jones 73), N Williams (R Davies 67), G Rees, P Arnold ( E Evans 67), A Thomas (D Day 67), G Williams and A Mason.

Scorers: Try - E Jones; pens - R Priestland (4).

Referee: Nigel Owens (Pontyberem).