NEWPORT did just about enough to win this highly entertaining match against a valiant Ebbw Vale missing no less than 11 players through injury.

Black and Ambers outside half Shaun Connor’s last-minute penalty against his old club cruelly deprived the Steelmen of the bonus point they so deserved.

It was a typical derby with great commitment and spirit shown by both sides on a glorious day.

And when Vale led 13-9 early in the second half after a lovely try from impressive full back Nick Wakley, whose break and neat side-step put him in near the posts, an upset seemed very much on the cards.

But a combination of Newport upping their game and Ebbw Vale indiscipline turned the tide in the home side’s favour.

In the first half Vale needlessly lost prop Marc Jones to the sin bin after trying to kill the ball at a ruck.

And they shipped points when skipper Andrew Jenkins, who’d had a fine game up until then, was yellow carded for diving in at a ruck.

The difference between the two sides came from a piece of pure magic by Newport centre Scott Williams.

His lovely break and drawing of the defence sent in lock Alex James for a gem of a try, putting them 19-13 up.

Just earlier, prop Newport Luke Hunter powered his way over the line from close range after some relentless pressure to put his side in the lead.

The Black and Ambers were poor in the first half, making countless basic errors, preventing them from building any momentum.

Vale capitalised and fully deserved their 6-3 half-time lead courtesy of a Wakley penalty and an incredible drop goal from the halfway line by stand-off Andrew Williams in reply to Connor’s solitary penalty.

They could have been further ahead but strong running centre Shaun Powell was hauled down agonisingly short of the try-line.

Although Newport head coach Sven Cronk was pleased to get back to winning ways after last week’s horror show in Swansea, he wasn’t too pleased with his team’s performance.

He said: “I’m not totally happy with the way we played. I was frustrated with the first half, we couldn’t go through more than two or three phases and we were always looking for the miracle pass.

“But we were much better in the second half.”

Vale’s coaching duo, backs coach Matthew McCarthy and forwards coach Christian Loader, were bitterly disappointed after the game.

McCarthy said: “It’s heart-breaking. I thought we deserved better, I thought we deserved to win.

“We were undone by our lack of discipline and a couple of missed tackles.

“But there were many more positives than last week.”

Loader said: “I’m pig sick! Our own mistakes proved to be so costly. But it was a big improvement and we fronted up to them.”

Newport: A Awcock, G Wyatt, A Hughes, S Williams, D James, S Connor, K Barrett, I Evans, A Brown, L Hunter, M Workman, A Jones, R Dale, A Coombs (capt), P Williams Replacements: M Leaman, D Pattison, D McShane, A Frampton, N Williams, D Griffiths, A Quick Scorers: Tries – Hunter and Jones, penalties – Connor (4) Ebbw Vale: N Wakley, O Halford, N Wilcox, S Powell, L Johnson, A Williams, A Jenkins (capt), A Howells, M Williams, M Jones, M Amos, N Eaves, W Jones, D Quinn, R Williams Replacements: D Powell, M Jeffries, J Griffiths, S Pengelly, N Jones, M Lewis, M Edwards Scorers: Try - Wakley, penalty – Wakley, drop goal – A Williams, conversion – Wakley Referee: Nigel Whitehouse.

Argus star man: Nick Wakley