Player ultimately both managed to beat (5)
I believe the answer is:
throb
'beat' is the definition.
(throbbing is a kind of beating)
'player ultimately both managed' is the wordplay.
'ultimately' says to take the final letters.
'managed' indicates an anagram.
The final letter of 'player' is 'r'.
'r'+'both'='rboth'
'rboth' with letters rearranged gives 'THROB'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for throb that I've seen before include "Pulse" , "Beat rhythmically" , "Pound" , "Palpitate, quiver (with emotion)" , "Strong regular beat" .)