EBBW Vale boss Greg Woods was happy to leave Sardis Road with a consolation bonus point after a sloppy performance in defeat to Pontypridd.

The Steelmen lost Friday night’s Premiership encounter 32-25 but headed home with a point thanks to a last-gasp driving lineout try.

Captain and lock Ashley Sweet was the man to score after a team drive and then full-back Dan Haymond made no mistake with the conversion.

That ensured the Steelmen at least had a consolation, even if they were disappointed not to back up their excellent performance when winning with a bonus against Llandovery.

They made too many mistakes in testing conditions and paid the price for a nightmare start.

“To concede 14 points in the first four minutes because of our errors takes some doing and that start probably summed up our game,” said head coach Woods.

“We did really well twice, after that and then straight after half-time, to get back in the game but then we conceded silly, sloppy tries.

“But we did well to rescue a point from it – we played extremely well at Sardis Road last year and only got a point.

“That point could be massive – two out of three losses we have managed to get a bonus. We didn’t deserve it but the boys worked hard, and they know that they have to be better.”

Ebbw’s line was crossed twice within four minutes to leave them chasing the game.

Back row forward Lewis Young failed to gather the kick-off, handing possession to Pontypridd to hammer away in the 22 before wing Dale Stuckey was put over down the right for a try that fly-half Ben Jones converted.

A 7-0 lead quickly became 14-0, a grubber through resulting in a score for the other wing, Alex Webber.

Haymond settled Ebbw nerves with a penalty after a no-arms tackle and then the full-back, his side’s best performer, powered over to make it 14-8 after 13 minutes of frantic rugby.

Jones and Haymond traded penalties as errors increased in the rain and slippery conditions, which helped come to the Steelmen’s rescue on the half hour when Stuckey knocked on over the line after winning the race to a kick over the top.

Ebbw flanker Cameron Regan, for flying into a ruck after the whistle had gone, and Ponty fly-half Jones, for his reaction in the resulting handbags, were shown yellow cards in the 34th minute.

Stuckey put the hosts 20-11 up at the break with a penalty via the right post and the Steelmen needed to start the second half far swifter than they had the first.

They got what was needed with a well-worked try down the right wing for Ewan Rosser, expertly converted by Haymond, only to ship a score almost immediately with flanker Morgan Sieniawski racing over on the other flank.

The conversion failed, meaning Ebbw were just 25-18 down and that’s how it stayed entering the final quarter after Jones was short with a long-range penalty on the hour.

Ponty were bossing territory and got their reward with 15 minutes left when scrum-half Jamie Hill sniped down the right from a five-metre scrum for the hosts’ bonus score, just making the line to get the green light from the TMO.

Jones twisted the knife with a superb touchline conversion and at 32-18 down the Steelmen were up against it.

However, they soaked up some pressure before going down the other end for a precious seven-pointer.

Pontypridd scorers: tries – D Stuckey, A Webber, M Sieniawski, J Hill; conversions – B Jones (3); penalties – B Jones, D Stuckey

Ebbw Vale scorers: tries – D Haymond, E Rosser, A Sweet; conversions – D Haymond; penalties – D Haymond (2)