Bargoed beat Swansea 31-26 in the Principality Premiership on Saturday, April 6 to keep their slim survival hopes alive.
The Bulls won their second game in a row at Bargoed Park to move to within three points of Caerphilly County Borough rivals Cross Keys.
The hosts started well and took an early lead when winger Ashley Norton dodged a number of tackles to cross over the try line in the sixth minute.
Josh Prosser scored the conversion to give Bargoed a 7-0 lead.
But despite a strong first 20 minutes, Bargoed began to allow the visitors back into the game and when a loose lineout gave Swansea the ball close to the try line, hooker Paul John burrowed over for a try.
Phil Jones’ conversion levelled the scores in the 28th minute.
On the stroke of half time, Swansea took the lead as second-row James Ratti scored, with Jones converting to give the visitors a 14-7 lead at the break.
Bargoed came out firing in the second half and closed the gap in the 51st minute, when Prosser scored a penalty.
The lead changed hands once again five minute later, with Bargoed going ahead thanks to a try from Rhys Buckley
Prosser was successful with the conversion, with Bargoed now leading 17-14.
With momentum on their side, the Bulls scored their third try minutes later through prop John Lavender following a lineout drive.
Bargoed now led 24-14 after Prosser registered yet another conversion.
But Swansea kept the contest alive by bouncing back almost immediately. Luke Griffiths scored in the corner to cut the lead to just five points.
The All Whites scored again with just ten minutes remaining. Charlie Davies’s try levelled the scores, with Jones’ conversion giving Swansea a two-point lead.
In the 77th minute, the ball was moved to Bargoed centre Barney Nightingale, who went on a powerful run, skipped through opposition players and crashed over the line to earn a four-try bonus point and give his side the lead once more.
Prosser’s conversion from far out sailed through the posts to give Bargoed a 31-26 lead.
Upon the restart, Swansea launched a desperate last attempt to salvage a win but Bargoed held out and saw out a rare win in a game where the lead changed hands five times.
Winning ten points out of a possible ten in the last two games, Bargoed have closed the gap on their relegation rivals and with five games remaining, are still in with a chance of survival.
The Bulls travel to Ebbw Vale on Saturday, April 13 as they continue their quest to pull off a great escape.