Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

Ledbury Town Swifts’ Herefordshire FA Junior Cup campaign came to an abrupt end in the second round this week, as Neil Davis and Nick Blakeway’s young squad suffered a 10-0 demolition in a reversed fixture at the Herefordshire FA County Ground against Herefordshire Football League Division One leaders Hereford Lads Club Reserves.

With the Ledbury third string travelling to the city-based 4G pitch on account of their pitch at the Ledbury Rugby Football Club Ross Road succumbing to the heavy rainfall of the previous few days, the Swifts were simply outplayed by their higher-ranked opponents as Lewis Clarke and Harvey Harris both scored hat-tricks for the Hereford-based outfit, with substitute player Josh Hyde picking up a brace and Jay Oliver and Ben Sheffield also on target.

Sam Billingham was named man of the match for the visitors for an industrious shift in midfield, as the Lads Club second string go on to face Hereford Pegasus Colts at the County Ground in the quarter-finals in a fortnight’s time following a home walkover for Pegasus’ third team against Ross Juniors Colts.

Despite the heavy defeat, Davis was still full of praise for his young squad:

“Being up against a team in the division above, who should probably be competing in the [Herefordshire League] Premier Division, we knew we were up against it.”

“We started with a 4-5-1 formation and had a couple of chances, before Lads Club scored their first and knocked us.”

“With a couple of our players having to play with existing injuries, it was tough to keep our levels up, but I certainly can’t fault both the attitude and work all of our lads put in.”

Davis and Blakeway’s young side, second from bottom in Division Two of the Herefordshire Football League but with a four-point advantage over newcomer basement boys Lickhill Colts FC Saturday, must put this latest result behind them as they resume their league campaign with a remaining January fixture against mid-table Dore Valley this coming weekend (KO 2:00pm).

Dore clinched a 3-2 victory from the Swifts at the Seven Site at the start of December, as goals from Thomas Goodwin and Brad Potter weren’t quite enough to overcome the brace scored by home forward Craig Forsyth and substitute team-mate Aden Morgan, as Darren Palmer picked up a sole Dore booking from referee Mark Ammonds.