Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

A Tyler Weir hattrick and goals from Craig Howell and Lewis Williams secured a comfortable victory for Ledbury Town at Tenbury on Saturday.

Ledbury hit their stride early and dominated the match, scoring three times in the first half. Inside seven minutes, Weir burst forward and was brought down on the edge of the box. Craig Howell’s low freekick clipped the side of the wall, evaded the keeper and hit the corner of the net.

Town kept up the pressure, with Howell and Weir combining with Sam Webb to play in Lewis Williams inside the box and he turned shot into the corner of the goal to double Ledbury’s lead inside quarter of an hour.

The first half was by far the best Town had passed, and kept, the ball all season and Tenbury were chasing shadows for long periods. This patience was rewarded as just before half time Ledbury scored again. The ball was fired into Williams on the edge of the Tenbury area, with his back to goal, Tenbury’s centre back stepped in to poke the ball away, however it landed at the feet of Weir who whipped a left footed shot from the right of the box into the far corner.

Six minutes after the break, Ledbury increased their lead further. A well worked thrown in from the right found Howell, who played in Weir behind the defence. His initial shot was well saved by the Tenbury keeper but he couldn’t hold the ball and Weir scored at the second attempt.

Ledbury made some substitutions which affected the team’s fluency and opened up the match. Williams burst down the right and flashed a lovely low ball across the box which just evaded Branch and Lee arrived to meet the ball at the back post and put it over. Tenbury then threatened, with a cross in from the right to a free man at the back post but he inexplicably missed the target with a header from close range.

Just as Tenbury showed some spirit, Ledbury crushed all hope. James Febery won a powerful header on the half way line, sending Williams clear down the right wing again. He drove to the touchline and cut the ball back expertly for Weir who made no mistake completing his hattrick.

Both teams had good chances in the final 20 minutes, with Ledbury losing defensive discipline and allowing Tenbury a number of good opportunities to break their duck, but Alex Goode made an excellent 1v1 save and Tenbury blazed wide another chance from close range, allowing Town to maintain the clean sheet and take all the points.