EBBW Vale head coach Pat Horgan is looking for a reaction from his charges tomorrow afternoon after their humbling at the hands of lowly Bridgend last weekend.

The Steelmen welcome the Wizards to a soggy Eugene Cross Park looking to maintain an excellent home run of form that contrasts with their woes on the road.

The Ravens put them to the sword last weekend and ran four tries past them in a 32-6 demolition job, a loss that was Vale's third league defeat on the spin away from home.

Horgan said: "We were very poor last week and it has been a bit of a rude awakening for the squad, perhaps they were a bit complacent heading to Bridgend.

"The disappointing thing for me was that heads dropped when they went into a 15-point lead and the game had slipped away. But these things happen and for me it is now about how they react to the disappointment.

"The players know that they need to put in a good performance and I am confident that they will do, because we have done well at home of late."

Vale, who have struggled to train outside over the past month because of the poor weather, have been hit by some bad news on the injury front.

Skipper John Bowd will be out for four weeks with a groin problem while fellow back-row forward Rhys Williams only came out of a sling this week and faces three months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury sustained at former club Cross Keys in December.

Added to that will be the absence of Simon Hunt and the Lewis twins, Rob and James, for the games with Caerphilly and Neath in February while they are on sevens duty, Hunt for England and the Lewises for Wales.

"We will just have to soldier on," said Horgan. "And it's obviously good for players to get selected for sevens duty. Things look okay for this week and while numbers might be low in coming weeks I'm sure we will cope.

"We are just looking ahead to Aberavon and it's going to be tough, they are on a good run of form and are on the back of three good wins since a disappointing performance against Neath (where they lost 42-14)."

Ebbw Vale are able to call on experienced forwards Will Thomas and Neil Edwards. Both missed the defeat at the Brewery Field, Thomas with illness and Edwards because his wife was giving birth.

Ebbw Vale: A McLaughlan, J Lewis, K Owen, An Bramwell, A Bevan; M Delore, R Lewis; I George, M Williams, M Jones; M Griffin, N Edwards; J McPhail, G Donaldson, W Thomas (c). Replacements: A Lott, R Wilkes, J Thomas, C Moses, B Shelbourne, J Williams, G Roberts.