(Report: Lampeter Town RFC)

HAVING profited from their last two away trips, Lampeter sought to put the disappointments of last week's final play defeat firmly behind them as they took on well established Felinfoel.

With a slight breeze across field conditions were ideal for mid October at King George Fields.

Opening with real intent Lampeter earned a penalty with the home side straying offside at the ruck, ably slotted by Outside Half Osian Jones.

From the restart Lampeter's knack of shooting themselves in the foot once again shone through as Foel pounced on loose ball sending play neatly along the backline across the field wide, recycling with pace that Lampeter could not match.

Slick passing from the home outside half Aled Roberts sent right wing Darcy Etherdge over after just seven minutes with alarm bells ringing in the away side's ranks.

Unable to get their hands on the ball Lampeter found the going tough against a bigger bullying pack that provided clean quick ball for scrum half Josh Edwards to use on the front foot unleashing a clinical rapid backline resulting in Etheridge claiming his second in almost the same grounding as a few minutes previous.

Relentlessly the home side attacked with Fly Half Roberts crossing near the posts as the Maroons ran out of defenders. Being penalised for straying Offside was the theme of the first half as frustrations spilled over resulting in Second Row Kai Jones taking a ten minute spell on the sidelines to cool off.

Whilst Jones had been impressive in ripping ball off the Felinfoel attackers it was his cousin Cadfan Jones in the Backrow who tackled himself to a standstill in a punishing first half earning praise from his team-mates.

Adding to the Ceredigion men's woes was another yellow card to Gareth Isaacs as the match official took umbridge with the way Isaacs had protested over an alledged choking incident leaving no choice but to open up the sin bin as thing went from bad to worse for the men in Maroon.

Showing the Foel intent on keeping the scoreboard rolling, Roberts slotted another penalty taking the scores to 18-3 as Jones and Isaacs could only watch from the sidelines.

Two more quickfire tries for Foel took the scoreline agonisingly up to 30-3 yet with Lampeter fully restored and looking to hit back before halftime, neat handling of their own worked Centre Tomos Rhys over the line on a trademark barnstorming score popular with the large travelling support always appreciated by the players.

Converting his brother's score Osian Jones sounded a rallying cry to the visitors on the stroke of half time to dig deep against the strongest test of Lampeter's resolve so far this season.

Try as they may Lampeter were outgunned by the width and pace of the home side's attacking play with Fly half Roberts again popping up out wide to start the scoring of the second half.

Huge defensive efforts from Wingmen Ellis Wiseman and Immanuel Ologun thwarted initial attacks down the flanks but they could do little as wave after wave of attacking men in black jerseys flooded the Lampeter half.

Something had to give as the defence creaked allowing Fullback Elliot Dawe to cross on a rehearsed play scoring out wide taking the scores to 40-10.

Playing for pride Lampeter emptied the bench with notable contributions from Locks Guto Jones and Teivi Spanner, yet for all their endeavour turnover ball and ill discipline coughed up any Lampeter attacking play as Foel started running from their own twenty two with great reward as Flanker Josh Skeilding broke would be tacklers to score a popular long distance try.

Losing Lampeter player coach Llyr Jones to a broken leg only worsened proceedings as the visitors looked for the final whistle rejigging their backline for the final quarter.

Throwing the kitchen sink at the Foel defence, once again turnover ball hurt Lampeter as another long distance footrace resulted in the Maroons licking their wounds under the King George sticks.

With their last throw of the dice on the table Lampeter looked to run from deep only for Number 8 Isaacs to again infuriate the match official with his comments resulting in a second yellow leading to a red card topping off an afternoon of poor Lampeter discipline.

Never knowing they are beaten is a Lampeter trait and even though a gulf of points seperated them on the scoreboard the visitors played right up to the final whistle all credit to their heart and determination as Flyhalf Osian Jones not to be outdone by his sibling popped up for a commendable solo converted try at the death at least giving the beaten side some crumbs of hope for the next game.

With the final whistle being blown, with a huge penalty count against them Lampeter counted the cost of the bruising encounter with some on the home side feeling rather aggreived with the one sided penalty count yet video analysis will no doubt show there is much to do on the training paddock this week in controlling their discipline to play within the laws of the game in order to get on the right side of the officiating referee.

Assistant Analysis Coach Brynmor Jones stated: "For those who played a full 80 minutes huge credit especially to the five Youth players graduating from youth rugby straight into Division 1.

“Today was a harsh lesson and we simply can't play with bodies watching from the sin bin.”

Indeed the school of rugby hard knocks continues in the league in a fortnight with the visiting Hendy seeking to spoil Lampeter's first home win of the season party as the patient home supporters look forward to a return to winning ways .