Early tries from Daniel Evans and Ken Owens set the Scarlets on their way to a 13-6 Magners League win over Edinburgh at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday. The result means Nigel Davies’ men have tightened their grip on fourth position and closed the gap on top Welsh side, the Ospreys. Edinburgh became the first Scottish club to play at Parc y Scarlets but ultimately it was a disappointing trip south for Andy Robinson’s men as they fell to the Scarlets in a tight game. The hosts’ triumph was tempered, however, by a nasty looking knee injury to Morgan Stoddart which forced the full-back off on a stretcher. Speaking after the game, Scarlets coach Nigel Davies said: "We’re concerned about Morgan but we’ll know more soon. I can’t remember a season like it for injuries – every game we play seems to add to our injury list – and they’re not just minor things either." Daniel Evans, back from injury, and Ken Owens helped themselves to unconverted tries in the opening quarter-hour but the Scarlets struggled thereafter to put points on the board. Out-half David Blair kicked two penalties for Edinburgh, late in the first half, to close the gap to 10-6. But the Scarlets, who were dogged in defence, made sure of the win deep into injury-time when man-of-the-match Evans landed a relieving penalty. Davies added: "We played well for the first 20 minutes and scored a couple of nice tries but playing in patches has been the story of our season. "We’ve got to remember that there were a lot of youngsters out on the park today and part of their development is not just the improvement of their skills, it’s also working on their concentration levels as they can tend to switch off. "What I would say about today, though, was that it was perhaps one of our best defensive performances. "Without the ball we were very good but we went on to kick too many balls out on the full and fail to get good field position. Some of our basic skills let us down. "Having said that we’ve got a win – although in some ways it doesn’t feel like it – and we’ve got it with a relatively inexperienced side. "These guys have got a lot of work to do and we’ve got a few weeks before our next game so some of these guys will be working on a lot of basic stuff." This game promised much but delivered little and will be most remembered mostly for the missed kicks that both sides had. The Scarlets were particularly guilty in this area, missing a total of six shots at the posts, including two conversion attempts. Blair and Chris Paterson missed a penalty kick apiece for Edinburgh, who were made to pay for a poor start defensively. The Scarlets, facing into the wind, kept ball in hand well and strike runners Stoddart and Jonathan Davies consistently made ground. The back-line duo set up a try apiece. Firstly, scrum half Martin Roberts launched a snappy counter attack. He freed up Stoddart who went on a mazy in-and-out run before offloading for left winger Evans to touch down after only five minutes’ play. On the quarter-hour mark, Davies did the initial damage by gaining a large chunk of territory for his side. Team captain Simon Easterby took a quick tap penalty off the next phase and hooker Owens squeezed his way over from a couple of metres out. Rhys Priestland failed to convert both tries and also missed a 27th minute penalty but the Scarlets remained in charge of affairs, outplaying the visitors for much of the first half. In the closing minutes, Vernon Cooper was penalised for a ruck offence and Blair, who had missed his first attempt, stepped up to slot the place-kick. The fly-half added another just before the break after a Scarlets offside. Edinburgh, who had six Scotland squad members at their disposal, were struggling to pose an attacking threat but still very much in the game at 10-6 down. The Scarlets were without the services of Stephen Jones and their three other Wales players and certainly they could have done with Jones’ place-kicking accuracy in the second half. As the hosts tried to add some much-needed cushion to their lead, Priestland (48 minutes) and Evans (70 and 79) missed three penalty attempts between them. With neither side able to create a try-scoring chance of note – in the wet and windy conditions – all the focus fell on the shoulders of the place-kickers. The usually reliable Paterson, who came on as a half-time replacement, was off target with a kick in the 51st minute. Paterson pressed and probed to try and spark the Edinburgh attack into life and his fellow replacement Simon Webster looked dangerous when involved – yet the Scarlets defence stood strong. Edinburgh brought on Marc Teague for his debut and were left ruing a high error count as Evans sent the Scarlets over the finish line with the last kick of the game. Speaking after his side’s fifth straight away defeat, Edinburgh boss Robinson said: "It was very disappointing really, but the Scarlets deserved their victory because they scored two cracking tries early on. "We are all frustrated with what’s happened there. We need to hang into games and then go on to win them, but you have got to hold onto the ball and take your chances to be able to do that. "It was summed up when we had a scrum on their 22 in the middle of the pitch, but gave away a free kick from such a prime attacking position." The Scarlets’ win – their first over Edinburgh since April 2007 – saw them bounce back from their 31-17 reversal to Leinster two weeks ago, a result which ended their five-match unbeaten run at their new stadium.
