CARMARTHEN Town gave their survival hopes a major boost with a 1-0 victory over play-off conference leaders Airbus UK Broughton.

In the opening exchanges both teams struggled to cope with the strong wind, which led to plenty of misplaced passes.

On 12 minutes, Town got the early breakthrough when Nicky Palmer lobbed a perfect pass through to Jonathan Hood on the edge of the area.

Hood hit a fierce shot that Airbus keeper Nikki Lee-Bulmer failed to gather and Dan Macdonald pounced to stab the ball into the net from close range for his first goal in an Old Gold shirt.

Just three minutes later Hood came close to extending Town's lead when his attempted cross was caught in the wind, deceiving Lee-Bulmer and hitting the near post.

The visitors responded on 24 minutes when Michael Hayes received a deep cross from the left but headed well wide of the goal.

Then Hood was again in action, collecting a defensive clearance 25 yards out and firing over the bar.

At the start of the second-half, Matthew Whatley began a flowing move down the right wing when he found Macdonald who cut in and threaded a neat pass to Jack Christopher.

His first-time shot from a narrow angle flew just wide of the post.

On 58 minutes, Airbus had the ball in the net, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

Nine minutes later Nick Harrhy beat his marker down the left flank and crossed to Macdonald whose miscued shot fell kindly for Christopher.

His fierce drive was deflected over the bar moments before the visitors had a golden opportunity through Craig Whitfield.

The striker headed the ball across to Mark Danks who was unmarked on the edge of the penalty area but screwed his shot well wide.

Danks almost made amends for that glaring miss when he weaved his way across the edge of the area only to see his rasping drive crash against the post with Town keeper Mike Lewis well beaten.

Three minutes later he worked his way into a good position before hitting a strong shot from ten yards which Lee-Bulmer blocked.

Carmarthen were coming under increasing pressure as Airbus pushed for the equaliser but the home defence, in which Tim Hicks and Lee Bevan shone, held firm.

The last goalmouth action came on 88 minutes when, following a free-kick, Lewis got down swiftly to smother a Neville Thompson header.

The three points combined with other favourable results have taken Town further away from bottom club Newtown and closed the gap on teams above them in the league.

Town travel to North Wales to take on Airbus in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Cup on Saturday.

The bus leaves Richmond Park at 8.30am.

Carmarthen Town: Lewis, Whatley, Smothers (Harrhy), Palmer, Bevan, Fowler, Hood, Hicks, Macdonald, Christopher, Davies. Subs: Alsop, Thomas, Harrhy, Evans, Wilson: