SECOND half tries by Carmarthen Quins hooker Torin Myhill and centre Joshua Batcup sent Cross Keys sliding to another disappointing defeat and further into the mire near the foot of the Principality Premiership table, writes Geoff Champion.

In a dour battle at Pandy Park, the West Wales men caught Keys cold soon after the restart when a swift passing movement saw Myhill crash over in the right corner, while Batcup sealed the win with his scrambled touchdown five minutes from the end. Full back Aled Thomas kicked two penalty goals and two conversions.

Keys outside half Jason Tovey kicked three penalties in the first half which had given his side a 9-6 interval lead, but the home side made far too many errors to mount a real challenge against their more than competent opponents.

Cross Keys were hoping for some festive cheer after a dismal first half to the campaign when they had managed to win just three of their 14 matches with one drawn game.

That put them in 12th spot and very much in the relegation danger zone of the Principality Premiership table.

The Quins were in ninth place but, having secured 38 league points, they were well clear of the Pandy Park men who had 23 points to their name.

The home side broke a 9-match winless spell when they beat visitors Llandovery on 1 December, but they lost 33-12 to RGC 1404 on their last outing two weeks ago.

Carmarthen Quins had won their last four matches against Keys including a 41-28 success at Carmarthen on 8 September, but the visitors were also going through a sticky patch with their 22-15 defeat against Newport at Rodney Parade on 16 December being their fifth loss in a row.

Tovey opened the scoring for Cross Keys when he banged over a 42 metres penalty goal in the ninth minute, but Quins drew level a couple of minutes later when James responded with a 35 metres penalty.

In a slow opening quarter, both sides’ defences cancelled each other out, but Tovey restored the Keys lead with a short-range penalty in the 15th minute and Thomas duly replied with another wide-angled penalty six minutes later.

Both teams were making too many mistakes for the game to flow freely but the authoritative Tovey was kicking well for good field positions and he completed his hat-trick of penalties with another successful kick from 40 metres after 26 minutes.

The lacklustre first half closed with the visitors on the attack but Keys still holding on to their 9-6 lead, but they could not produce the finishing power to match the Quins’ brace of tries in the second half.

Cross Keys: L Andrews (R Budina 31), J Goodchild (W Kelly 67), S Majkic, D Fidler, W Cunliffe, J Tovey, R Davies (O Leonard 80), G Carpenter (C Hewlett 69), E Shipp (R Jenkins 71), R Cornock (T Hansen 80), D Welch, captain, S Andrews, T Lampard, J Thomas (H Reader 62) and I Jones (J Carlin 62).

Scorers: Pens: J Tovey (3)

Carmarthen Quins: A Thomas, D Ford, O Knott, J Batcup, D Morgans, S Marshall, G Rees (A James 78), S Phillips (C Allen 79), T Myhill, J Sebastian, J Helps, L Taylor, capt, E Siggery, L Millin and S Jones (E Lloyd 78).

Scorers: Tries: T Myhill, J Batcup; Pens: A Thomas (2); Cons: A Thomas (2)

Argus star man: Jason Tovey

Referee: Mr Aled Evans (WRU)