Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

After languishing at the foot of Division Two of the Herefordshire League throughout the opening weeks and months of the season, with recent back-to-back 3-0 and 3-2 victories away at Tenbury United Colts and at home to Leominster Town lifting them to tenth as a 1-1 draw against Credenhill at Roman Park last weekend helped to maintain this position, Ledbury Town Swifts stay put in the table this week following a close 4-3 defeat to Hereford Lads Club Colts at the County Ground.

The first fifteen minutes of this latest league encounter cost Richard Thick and Luke Ledbury’s side, with the Swifts going 3-0 down by the time just fifteen minutes of play were up as the visitors struggled to get going with the added disadvantage of ten regular players being absent.

Dan Powell appeared to put the ball over the line shortly after Lads Club found their first, although not to the agreement of the referee as Lads Club found a fourth by the time half an hour had been played, despite the Swifts starting to create chances.

Will Brandreth scored his inaugural goal at senior level football to get the red and blue shirts off the mark before the interval, heading the ball home after a fantastic run from visiting man of the match that afternoon Sam Booth resulted in a shot which rattled the bar.

A constructive half-time chat, with the Swifts players present that day very much taking heed of the improvements required by Thick and Ledbury, saw Alex Berry find a second recovery goal going into the latter half of play, before Dan Fish reduced the visitors’ deficit to a single goal by firing home his saved penalty on the rebound.

In fact it was only through a magnificent save from the Colts keeper to stop a last-minute header from Clayton Hodges which denied the visitors of what would have been a very well-deserved league point following such an impressive comeback, as Thick commented:

“Although we lost and were very disappointed with the way the players had started their game, Luke and myself were still delighted in how the lads managed to pull themselves back into it during the latter half of the game.”

“We had square pegs in round holes in many positions with so many players out, and from the talk at half-time, it was clear that the lads both listened to and applied exactly what Luke and I had asked for in the second half.”

“Sam Booth particularly impressed, as just ten minutes into playing in centre-midfield, a position he had never played in before, he really found his feet and was in fact our driving force, winning every tackle and header, and showing how comfortable on the ball he really is. He demonstrated a fantastic range of passing, along with a couple of assists and some dangerous long-range shots.”

“Will Brandreth also stood out, putting in a great performance at left wing-back in what was also his first time playing in this position, really seizing his chance.”

“There was a time towards the start of the season when, after going 4-0 down, we would dread it turning into double figures for the opposition, but the lads have imported and learned so much that this was never really a fear on the day.”

“We’ve started scoring goals now, with just silly individual errors costing us. So many fringe players got a good chance against Lads Club, and they showed just how much they have improved since the start of the season.”

“Forgetting the first twenty minutes of the game, the next seventy were a great effort. It’s not often you lose 4-3 and can still feel really positive. Lots of improvements are still needed, but the lads are really giving it a go and starting to show that all of the effort is paying off.”

Like Ledbury’s first team, the Thick and Ledbury’s squad now have a two-week from footballing action, having one final chance to move themselves further up the league before 2022 by taking on mid-table Belmont Rangers at New Street on Saturday 18^thDecember, KO 2:00pm.