Scarlets 21
Connacht 19
Connacht were denied a precious Pro12 victory by Steve Shingler, as he held his nerve to convert a penalty at the death to make it four defeats on the trot for the Western province.
It was heartbreak once again for Connacht as loosehead Ronan Loughney's moment of madness gifted Scarlets victory seconds after it looked like Jack Carty had won it with a massive kick of his own.
Pat Lam's charges dominated the possession and territory stakes for the majority of the game, but that will prove little consolation as they make their way home with just a losing bonus point.
The result puts Scarlets top of the table ahead of Leinster while Connacht remain fourth and still have not won in eight attempts at Parc Y Scarlets.
The Connacht coach felt that 'big calls' went against them last week against Leinster, and he must be holding similar feelings this week as they were denied three tries by Welsh TMO Paul Adams.
Much the better side in the first half, they went into the dressing rooms 10-3 ahead at the break after Matt Healy raced home from 80m after Connacht went wide from a turnover. With Craig Ronaldson's excellent conversion adding to his earlier penalty, it was 10-0 after 25 minutes.
The Westerners made their man advantage count as Regan King was sent to the bin just after Bundee Aki had returned from his own stint in the bold boys' corner for an illegal shoulder charge.
Prior to Healy's try, Eoghan Masterson was unlucky not to have been awarded a try after the ball ricocheted off a number of players before the No.8 attempted to ground, but he was deemed not to be in control of the ball.
Aled Thomas got Scarlets on the board with a penalty before Healy was denied a second try by the TMO for an apparent knock-on during the grounding.
Scarlets started the second half in much better fashion than they finished the first, as Thomas knocked over another penalty before the Welsh region showed good hands to spread the ball wide to Steffan Evans to dive over.
Thomas' conversion made it a three point game, but Ronaldson levelled matters immediately after Scarlets were penalised for obstruction on the restart.
The third of the non-tries came as TMO evidence showed DTH Van Der Merwe had beaten Ronaldson to the grounding after a block down on a Thomas clearance kick.
Connacht were made to pay for their wastefulness in attack as Rhodri Williams stole on a march on their defence and broke through the middle before offloading to full-back Michael Collins, who put the finishing touches on an incisive break.
Thomas snagged the resulting conversion to keep the gap at five points in what truly was a superb game of rugby.
It didn't take long for the deficit to be reduced as Carty landed his first penalty, following Aki's brilliant midfield break to bring play to the 22'.
The game remained on a knife edge, with Connacht endeavouring to find another score, and it finally came through the boot of Carty from 40m out.
As the ball sailed between the posts, it seemed Connacht had earned a much needed win, alas it wasn't to be.
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