A TIGHT, hard-fought match saw Ebbw Vale stay five points ahead of Aberavon in a fascinating duel at the Talbot Athletic Ground, writes Howard Evans.

The game had always promised to be a close one and two good defences restricted chances to a minimum, but Ebbw Vale did score two of the three tries.

Ebbw Vale head coach Greg Woods said: "I am over the moon with the result. To come to Aberavon and get a draw is not easy and we did well.

"We probably looked the more expansive side, though they were on top of us in the set scrums and we had a hard job holding them there.

"These are two good points for us and I am quite happy to come away with them".

Ebbw Vale had the whip hand in the third quarter of the game but the final quarter was played out near the Ebbw line as Aberavon ignored penalties to go for forward drives.

As it turned out, Aberavon missed out on a possible winning penalty, especially after loose-head prop Luke Garrett was sin-binned.

For Ebbw, No 8 Cameron Regan had a fine game and Lloyd Evans continued his good form in the back row.

Both sides missed early penalties with Carl Meyer having a long shot before full back Chris Banfield placed one after 14 minutes.

Then wing Stef Andrews kicked ahead and though he was the third to the ball he grabbed it and scored for an 8-0 lead.

Ebbw hit back after 26 minutes when a smart passing move saw full back Dan Haymond overlap and Rhys Jones landed a touchline conversion.

However, Banfield kicked penalties after 28 and 38 minutes to take Aberavon to a 14-7 interval lead.

In the second half Rhys Jones hit a post high up and saw his penalty effort come out, but after 59 minutes came several drives by the pack and it was Cameron Regan who gained the try.

Another good Jones kick saw the extra points added and it was all square at 14-14.

From then on it was nearly all Aberavon, but they spurned goal kicks, wrongly as it turned out.

The defence was strong and a draw was probably a fair result.

Aberavon: C Banfield, F Jones, W Price, R James, S Andrews, J Garland (capt), J Flynn (R Cole 60),

J Walters, L Davies (I Davies 60), G James, B Thomas, R Hughes, A Evans, A Waite, J Tomalin-Reeves (J Morgan 54).

Scorers: Try - S Andrews; Pens - C Banfield 3.

Ebbw Vale: D Haymond, P King (temp C Hicks 66-76), C Meyer, A Owen, T Fricker, R Jones, D Jones,

L Garrett, J Franchi (R Francis 73), C Coleman (R Sevenoaks 67), K Parker, A Sweet (capt), R Clarke, C Regan, L Evans.

Scorers: Tries - D Haymond, C Regan; Cons - R Jones 2.

Referee: M English (WRU).