Comfortable win sees Ledbury reclaim second spot
Ledbury Town 4, Holme Lacy 0
Ledbury Town returned to second place in the Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division this week, as braces from Tom Boyle and James Febery netted a comfortable 4-0 victory in a second meeting of the season against lowly Holme Lacy at a chilly New Street.
In a huge improvement from the disappointing goalless draw which resulted the last time the two sides met at Holme Lacy’s ground back in October, very much a case of cup hangover on Ledbury’s part after braces from Boyle and Josh Burns, together with goals from Scott Roberts and Nathan Ince pulled off a shock 6-0 upset against current Herefordshire FA County Challenge Cup champions Hereford Lads Club in the first round of this year’s competition at New Street, a relatively slow start to this latest encounter at Town’s historic ground saw Boyle and Febery find their openers within four minutes of each other, even if the latter player received an early yellow card from seasoned referee Stuart Buchanan.
In fact home goalkeeper James Loader had very little to do up to and past the interval as Febery slotted home a neat 53rdminute cross from Boyle to put Ledbury well and truly in the driving seat, with a successful penalty from Boyle providing the icing on the cake during an otherwise fairly uneventful second period save for the visitors picking up a booking and a very late straight red card.
A first corner ball and free kick for the blue and yellow shirts couldn’t provide them with anything of value during the opening five minutes, as Buchanan judged Febery to have committed a first home foul of the day in front of the newly-refurbished Bloor Homes stand at New Street.
A first Town free kick on the twelve minute mark was struck against the four-man wall of opposing defenders by Curt Williams, before Febery, sharing the home man of the match accolade with Williams that afternoon, received his yellow card for bringing down a rival defender in the process of both players leaping for an aerial ball on the near wing.
Burns put two efforts wide back upfield, but just as if it looked like Holme Lacy were fast-becoming a bogey team for Ian Merrick’s men, the notion was swiftly put to bed when a Ben Miller cross was deflected by a visiting defender to see the resulting corner ball from the former Westfields striker nodded home by Febery to get the black and white shirts off the mark.
This was quickly followed by Boyle producing a superb strike to suddenly double his side’s lead, as a threatening cross-shot from Ince on the half-hour mark was deflected off for a Ben Febery corner.
Roberts decisively blocked and deflected a cross from the opposition over the touchline back downfield to see the ensuing corner ball headed clear of the edge of the box by Ledbury captain Tom Trigg, before Burns went into defensive mode himself, charging down the near wing to try and keep the ball away from a Holme Lacy attacker as Dale Taylor was on hand to fire the ball definitively over the neighbouring cemetery wall.
A further quartet of visiting players were put up against another Town free kick, this time struck by Boyle to curl over the wall and land just behind the net, before a final cross from Boyle came off the foot of an incoming Ince to provide the opposing keeper with an easy save going into the break.
George Walker and Morgan Skidmore came on for Burns and Ince over the half-time interval, with the second period continuing to see the hosts threaten with an effort which was deflected off an Holme Lacy defender just shy of the far post, before Buchanan brushed appeals from Ledbury players and supporters aside when Ben Febery came down in the box.
A Miller free kick taken shortly afterwards then soared past Town’s forwards in the box, before the elder of the Febery siblings completed his double courtesy of Boyle’s fine cross.
A further good ball from the prolific home striker was flicked on by Walker in the box to see Skidmore put an effort just wide of the woodwork, before the visitors came the closest to scoring all game in firing the ball wide of the near post in a one-on-one situation with Loader, as the Ledbury goaltender was given his only real bit of work to do that afternoon.
A quiet next twenty minutes saw both Asten Griffiths and Alistair Holder take over from the Febery brothers, before a foul committed against the latter of these two substitute players in the box allowed Boyle to calmly convert the penalty which completed yet another brace this season.
A booking for Town’s opponents soon after the spot kick was taken saw Boyle hold on to the ball just that little too long in the box before eventually being mugged by the Holme Lacy defence, before Ben Holland made his debut for the hosts in coming on for Miller for the final five minutes
A rather rash foul from a visiting midfielder, possibly made out of frustration over his side failing to get on the scoresheet that afternoon, then sent Skidmore crashing to the ground over on the far sideline to see Buchanan produce an immediate red with barely a minute to go, as Ledbury were left merely to celebrate finally reclaiming the second spot in the table.
Merrick’s high-flying squad will look to further this success with a visit to mid-table Welland at the Upton Hill Community Centre this coming weekend (KO 2:30pm), before ending March with a second re-arranged fixture away at Shobdon the following Saturday (KO again 2:30pm).
The original opening game against the league’s basement boys on the very first day of the current season was cancelled on account of no referee being available, while the first re-scheduled date was postponed three weeks ago owing to the numerous waterlogged pitches created by Storm Eunice.
Town will aim to merely add to the 8-0 demolition of Welland at New Street during the second league game of the season back in mid-September, when a further brace from Boyle along with goals from Ben Febery, Miller, Burns, Ince and substitute players Charlie Docherty and Williams contributed to the biggest Town victory since the 11-2 home hammering of Hereford Pegasus Reserves back in November 2017, and the most sizeable win since the 9-1 thrashing of Walsall-based Red Star Alma at New Street back when Ledbury were in Division One of the West Midlands Regional League in February 2013 if the Pegasus fixture is to be discounted due to them pulling out of the Herefordshire League later that season.
Despite not locking horns with Shobdon in league play this season due to the aforementioned postponements, the black and white shirts have already recorded a stunning 11-2 thrashing of the bottom table holders during a bitterly cold Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl cup quarter-final fixture at their aerodrome venue back in late November, when Miller struck four, twenty-year-old Walker found his first hat-trick at senior level football with the aid of two penalties, and James Febery, Trigg, Roberts and Sam Branch all added to the visitors’ illustrious tally on the day.
On-form reserves fall at Burghill
Burghill Rangers 1, Ledbury Town Reserves 0
Following three consecutive Herefordshire FA County League Division One wins, with respective 2-1 and 3-0 victories over bottom table sides the Civil Service and Bartestree at New Street and an entertaining 3-1 win against tenth place holders Hinton Reserves at Broomy Hill last weekend, Ledbury Town Reserves faltered for the first time in over a month this week, losing out 1-0 at The Copse to mid-table Burghill Rangers.
The fortunes of David Butcher’s squad against Burghill had already been mixed this season, with a 1-1 draw resulting during the very first game of the season back in early September at New Street as Alistair Holder found the sole Ledbury goal with Liam Watton on target for the Rangers.
An 8-5 goal fest to Burghill’s advantage then occurred in the quarter-finals of the Ross Cup competition in early December at their venue, as star reserves player Bramley notched up a first hat-trick at senior level football to go with goals from Skittery and Matti Holder, with Watton scoring a treble and Louis Mann picking up a brace for the Rangers as Jed Mann and substitute players John Brandie and Harry Bosse also found the net for the hosts.
The goals were far less free-flowing on this occasion however, with the Ledbury second string not quite managing to get on the scoresheet even if Alex Berry was named man of the match for the reserves for a solid defensive performance throughout to keep the Burghill scoreline at bay.
Given their recent promising run of form, Butcher was disappointed with his side’s latest showing:
“It was not a great performance all round to be honest, with individual mistakes costing us. We were slow out of the blocks, and we were duly punished for it.”
“We were poor overall, but perhaps a draw would have been a fair result.”
The New Street second string, still a comfortable seventh place in the table four points above Burghill, must quickly put this result behind them as this coming Wednesday evening sees them host current second place holders Worcester United (KO 7:30pm), before entertaining fifth-placed Tenbury United just three days later (KO 2:30pm).
A 3-3 draw occurred away at Martley Village Hall for the reserves when they last played Worcester in early October, as a brace from Skittery and a goal from Jack Dandy levelled the goals scored by United strikers Matthew Gardner, Rhys Turberfield and Arron Windsor.
The same scoreline resulted against Tenbury at Palmers Meadow in the penultimate game before the Christmas break for Butcher’s squad, with Skittery and sixteen-year-old Jake Clueit scoring either side of an own goal from the hosts, with Ryan Morris picking up a brace for United and Michael Wood also on target for the blue and yellow shirts, even if team-mates Will Clutterbuck and Aaron Morris were booked by referee J. Cairns.
The Ledbury second string will end March with a first visit of the season to the Brimfield and Little Hereford Sports Club to face current eighth place holders Tenbury Town, whom they are yet to lock horns with this season after their scheduled first meeting of the season at New Street was postponed three weeks ago due to a waterlogged pitch caused by Storm Eunice.
