jquery how to append as first child?

Question

i have a span like this one:

<span id="tablinks" class="links">
<a href="#" class="back" title="">go</a>
</span>

And i like to append as first child a new link:

<span id="tablinks" class="links">
<a href="#" class="new" title="">new</a>
<a href="#" class="back" title="">go</a>
</span>

i try to append it

$("#tablinks").append("<a class=\"new\" href=\"#\">new</a>");

but this results in:

<span id="tablinks" class="links">
<a href="#" class="back" title="">go</a>
<a href="#" class="new" title="">new</a>
</span>

i tried before it

$("#tablinks").before("<a class=\"new\" href=\"#\">new</a>");

but the result was:

<a href="#" class="new" title="">new</a>
<span id="tablinks" class="links">
<a href="#" class="back" title="">go</a>
</span>

Can someone help?