PONTYPOOL can continue their seemingly unstoppable march towards another Championship crown – and promotion to the Premiership – today with a 13th successive victory of the season, writes David Williams.

Pooler hammered Gwent rivals Cross Keys 54-3 at Pandy Park last weekend to maintain their 11-point lead over second-placed Bargoed and make it a flawless 2019 in the league.

Speaking after that triumph, Pontypool captain Scott Matthews, a former Keys favourite, said: “We started off a little bit rusty but got a couple of tries on the board towards the end of the second half and then the confidence just grew.

“Cross Keys have got a big pack and once we started to play a bit it opened up and that was too much for them.

“The tiredness got into their legs a bit sooner than ours and then the backs opened up and scored some lovely tries after exploiting their tired forwards out wide.

“It’s not personal (winning at Keys), it’s about us as a group, we’ve just got to win every game and keep piling the pressure on Bedwas and Bargoed.

“It doesn’t matter who we play, we just want to win, and if we can get five points that’s always a bonus.

“We’ve got to just keep ticking on, taking it week by week, game by game, and the win after the break was a big positive for us.”

With a dozen wins on the trot so far this season, Leighton Jones’ men are big favourites to seal a return to the top flight of Welsh club rugby come the first weekend of May.

Tomorrow they go to ninth-placed Beddau (kick-off 2.30pm), the side they beat 47-12 on the opening day of the campaign back in September.

While Pooler have their sights set on the Premiership, Beddau will be hoping they don’t become embroiled in a relegation scrap.

A crushing 34-7 defeat by former basement boys Ystrad Rhondda last weekend means Beddau are only eight points above current bottom club Tata Steel.

The bottom six sides – Beddau, Keys, Trebanos, Ystrad, Ystalyfera and Tata – know there is still a lot of rugby to be played and plenty of points up for grabs.

However, four went down last term, and the same number this season would see those six, and possibly more, in danger of relegation to the third tier.

And there’s a huge derby at Pandy Park tomorrow as one of those under threat, Morgan Stoddart’s Keys, entertain third-placed Bedwas.

Keys go into the game smarting from that heavy reverse against Pooler, while Bedwas are looking for a response to their first loss of the campaign last weekend.

A 26-10 defeat at Bargoed gave the Bulls the advantage in the race to catch Pooler, but Bedwas do have a match in hand.

Fixtures – Bargoed v Cardiff Met, Beddau v Pontypool, Cross Keys v Bedwas, Glamorgan Wanderers v Maesteg Quins, Narberth v Tata Steel, Neath v Trebanos, Ystalyfera v Ystrad Rhondda.