NIGEL Davies reckons that tomorrow’s home clash with Merthyr (kick-off 3pm) gives his Ebbw Vale charges a chance to redeem themselves after a horror show against Llandovery virtually ended their title hopes.

Ebbw’s 21-15 defeat at Church Bank last weekend means that only an unlikely set of results in the final round of regular season fixtures will get them into the tier one play-offs.

The Steelmen need to beat table-topping Merthyr, score four tries in the process, and pray that Pontypridd draw with RGC 1404 and neither side picks up a bonus point.

But head coach Davies insists that Ebbw’s top priority is to send the Eugene Cross Park faithful home on a high with a much-improved display.

“The most important thing is that we finish the season with a big performance at home,” said Davies. “That is our number one priority.

“Our chances of qualifying for the play-offs are pretty slim now but you never know, although that’s not really our focus.”

On the play-off situation, he added: “If I was a betting man I wouldn’t bet on us to qualify.

“We’ve scraped our way through the season but with two games left we’re still in control of finishing in the top four.

“Our performance against Llandovery was probably our worst in the last two years, and the players are aware of that.

“I don’t think Llandovery have been great themselves this season so that shows how poor we were.

“I was bitterly disappointed with our level of performance right throughout the team.

“But the boys playing this Saturday are the ones who played last Saturday so they have a chance to redeem themselves.”

As Davies says, the Steelmen, grand final winners against Pontypridd 12 months ago, have failed to fire this term and never really looked like defending their title.

“We were looking to kick on from last season but failed to do that,” said Davies. “More frustrating is that we didn’t do ourselves justice.

“I don’t mind losing matches when you come up against better teams but it was almost like we beat ourselves at Llandovery.

“The players know when they haven’t performed and they let themselves down.

“They came off the field knowing they were nowhere near the standard we set ourselves.

“It’s puzzling how we performed that way, but we did.”

Tomorrow will see Ebbw and Merthyr lock horns for the fifth time this season – Davies’ men have lost all four meetings to date.

The Ironmen won 38-25 when the teams met in the league last October, and they were also victorious in the two Foster’s Challenge Cup encounters between the clubs.

The closest Ebbw have come to beating Merthyr during the current campaign came in a dour National Cup quarter-final in early March.

Ebbw number-eight Jonathan Davies and Merthyr flanker Osian Davies were sent off after just eight minutes, before the Steelmen lost 13-3.