Scarlets strengthened their claims for a top four finish in this season’s GUINNESS PRO12 after a rare 25-16 win over Welsh rivals Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

There had been nothing to separate the two sides at half-time with the scores at 13-13 – DTH Van Der Merwe cancelling out Josh Matavesi’s earlier try for Ospreys.

But Aled Thomas made the vital difference after the break, stepping off the bench for Dan Jones – who had kicked eight points in the first half – and firing over four penalties to earn Scarlets their first win over their Welsh rivals at the Liberty Stadium since September 2007.

Ospreys, who had Sam Davies contribute 11 points from the kicking tee, slipped to their third successive GUINNESS PRO12 defeat.

The first points went the way of the visitors after six minutes when Jones sent over his penalty after Ospreys were penalised for an infringement at the line out.

Ospreys almost hit back immediately when Rhys Webb applied the pressure to Jones when he was kicking clear but the rebound headed over the dead ball line.

But the hosts did not have to wait long for their first points of the game when Davies’ clever inside pass played in Dan Evans who then freed up Matavesi to go over for Ospreys 50^th all-time try against the Scarlets, with Davies converting for 7-3 on 15 minutes.

Ospreys had their tails up and Davies extended their lead by another three points just short of the half hour mark with a penalty.

However, the visitors were not without their own moments and great work by Morgan Allen played in van der Merwe who just squeezed over in the corner on 29 minutes, with Jones converting to tie the scores.

They were not level long though with Davies’ long-range penalty minutes later putting the hosts back in front.

Eli Walker then looked to put Ospreys clear when he set off on a foot race with Steffan Evans but the Scarlets man got there first and, with Walker penalised, the visitors won the penalty.

And with just four minutes to go before half-time, Scarlets again pulled level when Jones slotted over his second penalty of the afternoon for 13-13.

The second half started with Scarlets applying the pressure close to Ospreys’ line but they were eventually penalised at the scrum and the opportunity was gone.

The visitors were then handed a boost when Davies fumbled a simple defensive gather under pressure from van der Merwe but they were unable to capitalise from the scrum.

The game had become an open affair with Ospreys looking for a way through the Scarlets defence in their 22 before Hadleigh Parkes intercepted before sprinting clear and kicking forward for Gareth Davies.

But the Scarlets scrum-half was tackled by Jess Hassler as he gathered just metres from the line, with the referee penalising Gareth Davies for not releasing.

Just minutes later Alex Thomas was off target with his penalty for Scarlets as the score remained at 13-13 past the hour mark.

But he made no mistake on 63 minutes with another three-pointer to put the visitors in front.

The Ospreys error count was starting to creep up and Thomas took advantage with another long range penalty to take the lead out to six points.

The game was not done yet though and Sam Davies’ penalty made it a three-point game with nine minutes remaining but Thomas again stepped up with two late penalties to secure the points.

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