Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

Ledbury Town’s triumphant players make a jubilant celebratory run towards the goal after causing a shock Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl cup semi-final upset, beating current undefeated Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division title favourites Hartpury University 5-3 on penalties (📸: Chris Ponter)

Ledbury Town caused a major upset in the semi-finals of this season’s Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl cup competition this weekend, knocking out current Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division title favourites Hartpury University 5-3 on penalties after the scoreline remained level at a goal apiece in front of a bumper crowd of around a hundred spectators at New Street.

In what was Hartpury’s first defeat of the season, with the University-based outfit having dominated the league so far with thirteen wins out of thirteen and a remarkable 69 goals to their advantage, Josh Burns got Ian Merrick’s men off to a dream start after just twelve minutes of play by burying the ball upfield, before the visitors equalized on the brink of the interval through King Baidoo, mirroring the first league meeting between the two sides at the campus-based venue back in mid-October when a controversial free kick, again taken just before the half-time whistle by Najee Holder opened the scoring, with Burns again finding Ledbury’s sole consolation goal during a second half which saw Baidoo score a brace as Brandon Smalley and Joshua Bissett also found the target for the league leaders.

A goalless and rather uneventful second period of play this time round at New Street ended with the affair being taken to penalties rather than extra time as is customary in the Charity Bowl contest, with Town’s spot kick takers running rampant as Ben Miller, Curt Williams and man of the match for the hosts that day Scott Roberts confidently found the back of the net.

A terrific save from Ledbury keeper James Loader, together with further successful penalties from Ben Febery and Burns himself in rather poetic fashion to end the afternoon, saw Town players and supporters erupt with joy over their side defying the odds and booking their place in a second Charity Bowl final in the space of three years.

Things didn’t start off so rosy for the hosts as they sported their brand new kit for the occasion, with Ben Febery receiving a yellow card as early as the fifth minute from referee for the day Adrian Rocke for bringing an opposing attacker down on the near sideline, shortly before Dale Taylor was judged to have committed a foul in midfield as protests from home players and fans alike were brushed aside by the official.

The resulting Hartpury free kick was put over the two-man Ledbury wall of Burns and Miller to provide Loader with a fairly comfortable opening save, before a third spot kick from the visitors in the space of ten minutes was struck straight into the gloves of the Town goaltender.

Any bets which had been placed on the outcome of this hotly-anticipated encounter given the Gloucestershire-based outfit’s recent stellar record were then suddenly thrown into jeopardy when Burns found what was to be his side’s only goal of regular time, before a cross-shot from the opposition provided Loader with another relatively simple save as a brief bout of argy-bargy occurred between him and the Hartpury attacker he had seized the ball from, which was lapped up by the raucous yet good-natured crowd behind the net.

A further cross from the visitors on the quarter-hour mark was put over the back netting, with the cry of anguish from the striker responsible being all too indicative of the growing frustration felt by his side, before an initial effort from Tom Boyle, man of the match for the hosts over their two previous home league games against Clee Hill United and Ewyas Harold after adding a further hat-trick and brace to his impressive goal tally, was volleyed wide of the far post from the edge of the centre-circle.

A pacy University-based forward showed tremendous pace in racing across the width of the field on the 20th minute, evading both Roberts and Ledbury captain Tom Trigg in hot pursuit before sending a threatening message to the black and white shirts by firing the ball narrowly wide of the far post, before a further Town foul, this time judged to have been committed by Boyle towards the far wing further upfield, gave their opponents a further free kick which was struck against Roberts as the ball ended up safely back with Loader.

Taylor then chose to volley the ball over the hosts’ bar in a risky yet worthwhile defensive move, with the two resulting Hartpury corners once again ending with Loader seizing the ball at the far post as the visitors, in a trend which looked set to continue throughout the afternoon, couldn’t seem to make anything of their set-pieces.

The half-hour mark saw Loader pull off easily the finest save of the ninety minutes to send a particularly venomous effort from the opposition over the woodwork, with the ensuing corner ball being fed back into the box by Hartpury to see the busy Ledbury goaltender once again save the follow-up effort on the ground with gloves which appeared to have had superglue firmly applied to them.

Morgan Skidmore incurred the wrath of an increasingly aggrieved visiting outfit when he flagged one of their forwards offside from the near sideline, before a further attempted cross from the red and white shirts from the near wing clipped over both Roberts and two opposing attackers in the box.

Both teams took full advantage of a brief break to the action on the 35th minute when a Hartpury player had to receive treatment in midfield from his physio before being taken off injured, as Roberts was then needed to clear the ball away just short of the line with Pete Jeynes making a pivotal volley to clear a cross from the visitors away to the far wing.

The persistence of the University outfit eventually paid off however when Town were caught on the break, as an opposing winger raced down to cross the ball in to see Baidoo slide in and put the ball away, despite the best efforts of Roberts to make the challenge from behind as the hosts conceded at the worst possible time with moments to go till the interval.

Hartpury’s equalizer had in theory set up an exciting second half of play, but the latter period turned out to be a much more mundane affair, beginning with early danger for Ledbury when Boyle made a defensive volley upwards against an opening corner ball from the visitors to see Loader palm the ball over, with only a well-timed challenge from Miller managing to avert a clear goalscoring chance on the follow-up from a second corner ball.

James Febery was shown yellow for dissent at exactly the same time into this second period of play as his younger sibling’s earlier booking, before an opportunity for Boyle was halted when the opposing linesman raised a contentious offside flag.

The game had to be stopped temporarily again on the 57th minute as assistance was given to an unfortunate spectator who had received a nasty ball to the face, before Miller, once again displaying his defensive prowess as opposed to his more usual position upfront, nodded clear a further Hartpury corner ball from towards the edge of the box.

Ben Febery then received a good ball from Boyle, running into the box and turning to put the ball under the defender marking him before it was easily saved by the visiting keeper, before Loader made a high-risk if well-calculated move in racing well off his line to knock the ball away from an incoming attacker.

The younger of the Febery brothers then ran across the front of the opposing keeper, committing a foul against him in the process as the Hartpury goaltender looked to play the ball back out, and even though the plucky Town youngster escaped further sanction, Miller wasn’t so lucky back upfield on the 75th minute, receiving a third and final home yellow card of the affair for a late challenge.

A visiting defender made a well-timed challenge to relieve Boyle of possession on the near sideline, before Williams became Ledbury’s first and only substitute of the afternoon, entering the fray for Nathan Ince as a free kick from an opposing striker was curled around a leaping Burns to deflect off Roberts on the edge of the box.

Rocke saw fit to march over and present a final yellow card of the game to an unhappy away dugout, before Boyle this time managed to evade the same Hartpury defender, sprinting down the near sideline and feeding a high long cross in but with Ben Febery losing his footing on the other side of the box.

The same Town forward was on the floor again further upfield with five minutes left on the clock, briefly retiring to the near sideline in order to shake off a head injury, before the seemingly inevitable occurred after a somewhat lacklustre latter period of play as the match moved to the lottery of penalties.

It was but a gamble for Merrick’s valiant men however, as player after player stepped up to fire the ball home in comfortable fashion, with Loader’s critical save and Burns’ final successful spot kick after the visiting keeper managed to cheekily slip the ball past his opposing counterpart being the final components needed to send a euphoric Ledbury side through to a final against Hereford Pegasus Reserves on a date and venue still to be announced, after the city-based outfit defeated other semi-finalists Welland with a close 3-2 win away.

Town, fourth in the Herefordshire League Premier Division but only a single point behind Pegasus Reserves and Hereford Lads Club Reserves just above them, now have a fortnight to rest before travelling to Shobdon on Saturday 19th February (KO 2:00pm), after an original opening fixture of the season against the league’s basement boys was postponed back in early September on account of no referee being available at the airfield-based venue.

A visit to Old School Lane in Hereford then looks set to take place the following Friday evening against none other than Pegasus Reserves (KO 7:45pm), as the other Charity Bowl finalists seek to avenge a 3-2 defeat at New Street back in mid-November when second half goals from visiting strikers Owen Bolton and Tom Dixon were the catalyst for a great comeback from Merrick’s men, as an own goal from Pegasus, inadvertently knocking in a cross from home man of the match Boyle, was followed by a goal from Alistair Holder and a successful penalty from Roberts.