Llanelli's Phil John takes on the Ebbw Vale defence

Centre Tal Selley crossed for a late try to save Llanelli's blushes in a dire Welsh Premiership match at Stradey Park.

The league champions, who have suffered recent defeats to Caerphilly and Neath, again struggled to find their form.

Not even the presence of Ireland international Simon Easterby and Scott Quinnell could penetrate a pumped-up Ebbw Vale defence.

The home side sensed a shock win when centre Rhys Shorney finished off a breakaway 14 minutes from time.

But Selley eased the nerves when he crossed after 74 minutes.

A woeful first 40 minutes was dominated by the referee's whistle with only a rare couple of home counter-attacks to lighten up proceedings.

Vale scrum-half Bryan Shelbourne had opened his side's account with an eighth-minute penalty, cancelled out by a short-range effort from home full-back Barry Davies three minutes later.

To their credit, the visitors constantly harried their opponents and it was not until the half-hour mark that the Scarlets crossed for the game's first try by Selley.

Vale responded with a second Shelbourne penalty to make it 8-6 at the interval.

The entertainment for the sparse crowd was also limited in the second half.

Davies, who missed five penalties in all, extended the lead to 11-6 before the late drama unfolded in the closing quarter when Selley finished off a long period of pressure.

Llanelli: Barry Davies; Wayne Proctor, Matt Cardey, Tal Selley, Garan Evans; Neil Boobyer, Rob Walters; Phil John, Marcus Thomas, John Davies, Vernon Cooper (capt), Chris Wyatt, David Hodges, Simon Easterby, Scott Quinnell.
Reps: David Maddocks, Aled Gravell, Luke Gross, Ian Boobyer, Adrian Williams, Salesi Finau, Jonny Lewis.

Ebbw Vale: Nick Wakley; Luke Roberts, Rhys Shorney, Paul Matthews, Andrew Bevan; Mark Meenan, Bryan Shelbourne; Adam Black, Leyton Phillips (capt), Martin Jones, Peter Sidoli, Peter Sidoli, Rhys Williams, Kati Tuipulotu, Tyrone Morris.
Reps: Paul Jones, Jonathan Evans, Paul Williams, Gareth Betts, Ed Binham, Aaron Takarangi, Neil Edwards.

Referee: Ceri Evans (Cardiff)