ABERYSTWYTH Town dug deep to earn a creditable 2-2 draw with top six side Cardiff Met at Park Avenue, to move up to eighth in the JD Welsh Premier table.

Paulo Mendes gave the Seasiders the lead on 13 minutes, but after the interval Elliot Evans equalised from penalty spot, and then Mael Davies put Met ahead.

Defender Ryan Wollacott salvaged a point for Aber when he levelled with a powerful header on the hour and that was how it stayed until the full time whistle.

Christian Edwards’ Met side had enjoyed the best of the early possession, and Will Evans picked up Eliot Evans on the right side, but he pulled his shot wide.

The 13th minute proved to be lucky for Aber, when skipper Marc Williams’ delightful lob allowed Mendes to overlap the visitors’ back line, and pull out a great finish down low to give Aber the lead.

Met went on to dominate possession, but with the Seasiders working so hard to close them down all over the pitch their goal chances were few and far between. Will Evans sent a half chance over the bar and the excellent Adam Hughes made a great block to deny Eliot Evans.

Will Evans fired over, and Aberaeron man Emlyn Lewis lobbed wide for the students, and although Aber put a few nice moves together, a first half of few chances ended with the hosts a goal up.

With the Seasiders looking to score a killer second goal, Tom Price sent in a low effort early on in the second half, but keeper Alex Lang was not too troubled.

The tide turned on 50 minutes, however, as ball in from Joel Edwards was controversially adjudged to have hit defender Ryan Wollacott’s hand, and Eliot Evans confidently converted the penalty.

Met attacked from the kick-off and in no time Mael Davies had sneaked into the near post area to snatch a second goal. All of a sudden, Met looked like world beaters and Kyle McCarthy lobbed over, before Will Evans almost made it three.

Credit to the Seasiders, they weathered the storm and on the hour Wes Baynes’ beautifully angled free kick was headed into the net by Wollacott to restore parity.

From there on Aber defended stoutly and Hughes, Wollacott and Stuart Jones all played their parts, denying in turn Will Evans and Eliot Evans, before excellent home keeper Connor Roberts pulled off the save of the weekend down to his left to deny sub Chris Baker a crucial third.

Baker looked to have scored the winner just before the end, but he was denied by the offside flag, and when Mael Davies’ injury time shot was blocked, the job was done, with a hard earned point in the bag.

ABERYSTWYTH: C Roberts, W Baynes, R Wollacott, P Mendes, M Williams, L Jenkins, S J Jones, M Jones, R Ricketts (E Vaz 90’), A Hughes, T Price (A Boss 70’). Subs not used: A Pennock (gk), G Kellaway, J Phillips.

CARDIFF MET: A Lang, K McCarthy, B Woolridge, E Lewis, M Davies, E Evans (D Spencer 84’), W Evans, C Corsby (C Baker 65’), J Lam (L Warman 66’), J Edwards, J Evans. Subs not used: W Fuller, O Taylor, D Thomas.

Attendance: 323. Referee: Cheryl Foster.