THE poorest performance of the season from the villagers' of Dinas Powys, however resulted in the narrowest of victories over Heol y Cyw in the battle of the villages. A tense, turgid affair that started so brightly for the home side, storming into a twelve point lead within a quarter of an hour and seemingly cruising to a comfortable victory. The game deteriorated into an ill tempered disjointed affair that only had flashes of flair to brighten up a grey day .

The theme of the season so far for the villagers has been domination of possession and territory continued in the first half of this game , however the second half was spent mainly within their own half , defending grimly and eventually prevailing by the narrowest of margins.

The victory came at a cost as several players had to leave the fray with injuries , the first of these was scrum half Tom Davies who was forced to leave within the first five minutes to be replaced by former club captain Nathan Williams.

It was Williams that took a quick tap penalty on half way before feeding right wing Jim Wiltshire who chipped ahead and the speedy winger won the race to the bouncing ball to open the scoring the conversion was added by veteran player coach Darren Ryan .

The home side were soon on the attack again and a penalty kick was kicked to the corner , and from the resulting was won and driven forwards. The ball was passed from the base by Williams to centre Ciaran Driscoll who on a sharp angle drove forwards, the ball was recycled by Williams to the other direction and prop Kevin Kallis passed to second row Ciaran Clarke who used every inch of his arm length to reach the try line.

At this point the fact that this would be the final score for the ''Villagers'' would have been met with incredulity , as they appeared in total control and heading for a comfortable victory. The visitors from the Bridgend area responded immediately with a penalty , and just before half time they added a try after a quick tap penalty of their own. It was 12-8 at half time.

From the restart, the visitors were awarded a penalty kick that was converted successfully and with 39 minutes of the contest remaining the score stood at 12-11.

This was to be the final score as for the remaining period defences were to remain firm, and the home side refused apparently simple penalty kicks at goal to add to their try tally.

The visitors pummelled the home defences and heroic tackling from the back row of Lewys John, Ryan Shallish and the imperious Lewis Dunleavy supplemented by the solid scrummaging of the villagers front row in which , Kallis , Tom Baister , Caleb Robinson , Luke Dyer all took turns to assist tight head prop Andrew O'Mallia .

The rotund O'Mallia is revelling in the challenge of playing at Division One level and is proving an invaluable member of highly competitive front row.

The victory meant that the villagers have gained three wins and suffered three losses in their first season in National Division 1 East .

The league season continues with a visit to Glamorgan Wanderers next Saturday for a 2.30 pm kick off.

The Dingoes won a hard fought and thrilling victory by 34-40 away at Rhiwbina, with veteran loose head prop Tom Paterson crossing for a rare but crucial try in the final minute of the game.