EBBW Vale moved up to fourth place in the Indigo Premiership on Saturday (Dec 10) as they beat Pontypridd 22-23 in a thrilling game at Sardis Road.
On a cold afternoon it didn’t take long for the game to warm up with Vale crossing for the opening try after only four minutes. Ethan Phillips touched the ball down but the conversion was missed.
The home side responded soon after with a penalty from Ben Burnell.
Ten minutes later the Vale extended their lead with Carrick McDonough crossing the whitewash. The conversion was missed but the Vale now had a 3-10 lead.
They extended that further in the 24th minute as Morgan Richards touched down for their third try and this time Evan Lloyd added the extras, stretching the lead to 3-17.
On the stroke of half time Ponty got themselves back in the game with a try, scored by Rob Jones, and conversion from Burnell. It brought the score to 10-17 and meant Ponty were still very much in the game.
Early in the second half, Vale were reduced to 14 when Richards was shown a yellow card and soon after the home side got their second try of the game.
Jones touched down for his second try but Burnell could not add the difficult extras and the score now read 15-17.
On the hour mark Ponty went ahead for the first time in the game with Aled Warding scoring after a good counter-scrum. Burnell then added the extras to take the score to 22-17.
Vale hit back almost immediately with Evan Lloyd adding a penalty to close the gap to two points.
Ponty were looking to hold on to their lead but Vale had other ideas and with two minutes left they were awarded a penalty. Replacement Kieran Meek was given the task of taking the penalty and he held his nerve to slot it through the posts.
That put Vale back into the lead and there was little time for the home side to respond.
On Saturday, December 17, Ebbw Vale host Merthyr while Pontypridd make the journey north to face RGC.
