EBBW Vale went back to the top of the Welsh Premiership with a bonus-point victory over bottom-placed Maesteg at Eugene Cross Park on Saturday, but it was far from being a champagne performance.

They were lacklustre for long periods against rivals hit by four yellow cards which reduced them to 14 men for 33 minutes and 13 for seven minutes.

Vale failed to make the two-man advantage tell and gained only a seven-point superiority against 14, which shows how they struggled to find their form and produce attractive and constructive rugby.

Their opening two tries, both by hard-working prop Ian George, were the result of driving lineouts, an area where Vale did dominate.

Only the 53rd-minute touchdown by scrum-half Bryan Shelbourne, which stretched their lead to 23-3, resulted from fluid movement, outside-half Michael Delore making a clean break from just inside his own half, and Kristian Owen and Andrew McLaughlan carrying on the move before Shelbourne went over.

The victory-sealing try after a gutsy Maesteg fight was scored a minute from time when the Old Parish were again down to 14 after replacement number eight Karl Hocking had been harshly yellow-carded by Cardiff referee Neil Ballard for an adjudged deliberate knock-on which looked a genuine interception attempt.

Centre Aaron Bramwell scored it to add to two penalties and a conversion but Vale could perhaps rightly claim they deserved the bonus point that resulted because for the fifth time in the game they spurned a kickable penalty to go for position.

While down to 13 men, Maesteg missed two kickable penalties which would have given them a 9-8 lead (outside-half Paul Smithson kicked a goal between the two misses).

And later Hocking was ruled to have been held up on the line, though he made amends seconds later by sending wing Grant Epton over from a scrum pick-up to make it 23-13 and give Vale some anxious moments.

In the end Vale's superiority up front, where George, lock Neil Edwards and number eight Will Thomas excelled, was sufficient to merit another vital win, though Maesteg were unhappy with Mr Ballard.

"We've had four yellow cards and we can't understand why we got them and Ebbw Vale didn't get any," said Maesteg coach Gareth Brown.

"No-one likes to have a go at referees but at the end of the day if you've had a bad game you have to hold your hand up and we felt the referee had a poor game."

Vale coach Patrick Horgan commented: "We're disappointed with our performance but at the end of the day we targeted the game to gain a bonus point and that's what we got."

Ebbw Vale: A McLaughlan, J Lewis, K Owen, A Bramwell, A Bevan, M Delore, B Shelbourne, I George, M Williams (C Attwell 77), M Jones (A Lott 54), W Jones (M Griffin 70), N Edwards, N Aiono, J McPhail, W Thomas (J Thomas 77).

Scorers: Tries: George (2), Shelbourne, Bramwell; conversion: Bramwell; penalties: Bramwell (2).

Maesteg: N Trowbridge, G Epton, N Hobson (R Boobyer 45), J Rimmer, L Woodard, P Smithson, L O'Connor (D Pritchard 50 ), T Hearne (G Edwards 59), S Cleary (G Thomas 50), S Tremlett (C Hopkins 64), P Jones (K Hocking 59), P Clapham, P Wheeler, M Davies, S Jones.

Scorers: Try: Epton; conversion: Smithson; penalties: Smithson (2).