Team v Pontypridd

[viewfromthestand]

Ebbw Vale team to play Pontypridd:

Dan Haymond, Stefan Thomas, James Lewis, Dominic Franchi, Toby Fricker; Dorian Jones, Dai Jones; Ross Jones, Rhys Francis, Rob Sevenoaks; Kristian Parker, Rhys Clarke; Cameron Regan, Ronny Kynes (capt), Lewis Young.
Bench: Joe Franchi, Joel Harries, Josh James, Lance Randall, Ben Papp, Sam Ireland, Callum Hall, Srdan Majkic. Great to see Dorian back at 10. Think he adds another dimension to our backs. Be happy with a 3/0 win tomorrow. Hope the weather improves over this evening

[Phillip Grey]

Amazing result, well done Ebbw Vale.

We spent long periods of that game defending, but gallantly defending at that.
Ponty has a lot of opportunities and a lot of possession but failed to break the well drilled defensive lines.
We did seem to put ourselves under pressure a bit, especially in the last quarter of the first half but they couldn’t capitalise.

Us on the other hand, made the most of our few chances.

Bitterly cold night, but great warmth from that team performance.
Congratulations to the team, and a great home debut for coach Woods.

[jadegoodiesfridge]

Thoroughly enjoyed that game last night.Once again hard to single out individuals, I think they call it teamwork.Hadn't seen Ebbw play like that before .based around a big defence and then ,clinically,take your chances ,which we did.Fabulous try from James Lewis by the way.Only highlighted the importance of having a reliable kicker in your team .Take a bow Dorian,again excellent performance. Missed him on Sunday,big time.To be a tad cynical.I also enjoyed seeing Diggy Bird's hapless attempts.What's the old saying? Cow's backside and a banjo?Greg Woods style of play is already taking shape and obviously Ponty have no answer to it.Big smile on my face all the way home.Fantastic stuff.Bridgend next.Keep it going Ebb! and maybe we can play against a front row that want to scrummage legally!

[viewfromthestand]

Totally agree Mr Fridge, Our game plan was based on solid defence. Our defence was absolutely top drawer. Our turn over rate was incredible. We embarrassed Ponty on the floor. Any 50/50 ball was Ebbw s . You can see the pride in the shirt once again. From 1 to 23 we did a job on Ponty. To think that Ponty had a number of Blues on the pitch, especially in their front row we showed them how to do it. Dorian has to be singled out again. I believe I am right in saying in the 4 games he s had for us he s kicked 25 out of 25 kicks at goal. That s the difference he makes . He does nt miss. It s great to see our young props more than holding their own when they entered the fray last night. Even though I don t want to be critical but my nerves take a battering I think we try to play out of our own 22 too often and on top of that our discipline is appalling. Had Diggy Bird brought his kicking boots this could of been a different result. Fortunately, he was wide of the mark on several occassions which was wonderful. It proves how solid our defence was at one point late in the first half we were down to 13 on the pitch. and then from early second half 14. We kept going and got a solid result . Moved up the table by 2 places. Well done Ebbw let s keep this form going .

[david brown]

Very well done to all concerned ,a tremendous performance .One cannot pay a higher complement than to say ,i never even felt the cold .Just unable to praise the club for bringing back the pride and passion displayed .What an unbelievable turn around in a few weeks.

[piglet]

Outstanding performance building on the style of play which nearly saw us victorious at Newport last Sunday.
Very well deserved.

[JohnCoffey]

I add my congratulations with others on here to Greg Woods on his first win at EXP - & to the rest of the coaching staff. With just a little bit of luck last week it could have been 2 on the trot for him !

Same players – different team, & what a difference ! I was expecting an upward improvement curve following the change of coaching staff but this improvement in such a short period of time far outweighs any expectation that anyone was entitled to hold.

We have gone from being the worst Prem side in Wales with the worst stats to one of the best – in the last 5 games we have won 4, scored 136 points & only conceded 69 & in league terms would have picked up 19 points from a possible 25. In the first 13 games of the season we recorded 2 wins (against the same side !) & 11 points !

And we could easily have won all 5. We have now beaten Bedwas, RGC & Pontypridd - last season’s cup winners & 2 sides that thrashed us a short time ago. Friday night’s performance actually makes the result against Newport even more frustrating – but let’s not dwell on that.

I agree – James Lewis scored a fantastic try & proved he still has pace, but it came from a great offload out of the back of the hand from Dom Franchi – when did we ever see him even attempt one of those ?

However, as already stated many times above, the win was built on the back of an outstanding defence – plus an incredible kicking exhibition from Dorian Jones. The distance he gets – not just with his goal kicking but out of hand & 22 metre restarts is remarkable.

There were a few times that Pontypridd built some good scoring chances and were a better than 50:50 bet to score but the defence all across the park was outstanding, especially inside our 22. These were opportunities they were converting with ease the last time we played – but not this time.

Rhys Clarke won MOM & I have no complaints with that but to win MOM in a side where everyone was outstanding shows how well he played.

BUT – we have got to stop giving away so many cheap penalties & stop picking up so many cheap cards.

Also not happy with all the consensus & agreement on this board !!!

[jadegoodiesfridge]

Just had a nose on the Ponty forum concerning their fans take on Friday's game ,called it quits after reading three posts.Whinging about OakseyWhinging about Cameron,Whinging about the officials,Whinging about going to Ebbw on a Friday night,Whinging about the cold,Whinging about the pitch........guess they didn't enjoy the game then.

[gtc]

Just had a nose on the Ponty forum concerning their fans take on Friday's game ,called it quits after reading three posts.Whinging about OakseyWhinging about Cameron,Whinging about the officials,Whinging about going to Ebbw on a Friday night,Whinging about the cold,Whinging about the pitch........guess they didn't enjoy the game then.

I didn't think that they brought that many to have a discussion about the match!

[jadegoodiesfridge]

Come to think of it ,I didn't see Ponty's team bus outside the ground either.Looked like Edwards coaches didn't turn up either.

[jadegoodiesfridge]

Apologies for my previous incomprehensible post.Hope you all get the gist.