Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

Former Ledbury player Luke Cox performs a defensive deflection in the box to deny reserves striker Tom Skittery of a late goalscoring opportunity (📸: Chris Ponter)

Following a postponed game against Bartestree last weekend owing to a waterlogged pitch at New Street, Ledbury Town Reserves managed to finally kick off 2022 in Division One of the Herefordshire FA County League with a 2-1 victory this week in a reverse fixture, as first half goals from George Walker and Sam Branch, along with a crucial second half save from reserves man of the match Zak Bonfield, bought David Butcher and Nick Blakeway’s squad an extremely useful three points.

The visitors should have gone at least four or even five goals up by the interval however, with opportunities to pull further ahead continuing to be squandered well into the latter half of play as Harry Gwynne denied the team in blue and red a clean sheet on the 72^ndminute following Bonfield’s critical deflection.

Things grew rather more heated going into the final ten minutes, as referee Mike Darley issued no fewer than three yellow cards to the hosts as the Ledbury second string were left to accept a valuable, if not massively convincing win to move up two places in the league table to ninth position.

Walker was the first to find the target for the reserves on the 20^thminute, coming from a long over-the-top ball from James Kenny towards him on the left-hand side, as the regular first team youngster cut back in on his right foot and curled the ball into the top corner from twenty yards out.

Branch’s 35^thminute goal was derived as a result of hard work from both Walker and Brad Potter, who managed to get the ball to their team-mate around the penalty spot to leave him with the simple task of slotting the ball into the bottom corner.

Potter came off for Tom Skittery over the break in a first substitution from Butcher’s well-staffed subs bench that afternoon on account of both Ledbury’s first team and third Swifts sides having had their games postponed this week as the overnight frost ravaged Town’s two home pitches, before Bartestree went on the attack during the opening minutes of the latter period of play, causing Bonfield to have to pull off a great diving save as Kenny performed a good block while bossing the reserves’ defensive line.

Walker was brought down on the run back across field, even if the opposing defender came off worse during the challenge, having to be taken off by two of his team-mates with a foot injury as the resulting free kick from Kieran Loveridge was struck neatly into the box to come off the heads of both Callum Blackmore-Davey and a veteran Bartestree defender, even if Darley ignored calls from the visitors for a corner ball.

Walker managed to recover a mis-timed attempted volley from towards the near post by crossing the ball right in front of the goalmouth, even if no red and blue shirts could reach the box in time to connect with it, before a superbly-timed sliding challenge from Charlie Jones denied a home forward of a goalscoring opportunity from the near side of the box back upfield.

Bonfield made another save on the 55^thminute as Blackmore-Davey was on hand to perform the clearance, with Ledbury’s frustration both on the pitch and in the dugout being palpable when Loveridge put the ball over the woodwork.

Reserves captain Nick Bolton then suffered a popped hamstring, being exchanged for sixteen-year-old Jake Clueit as Jai Smallwood donned the skipper’s armband, before a direct shot from Jon Richards provided Bonfield with a relatively easy save, even if this latest chance for the opposition to claw one back didn’t go unnoticed by a vocal Butcher, furious that the black and white shirts had been allowed to slip through once again.

Walker just about managed to get control of an awkward ball in the box back downfield to cross it over to Branch, who ended up being foiled by a defender, before a defensive Bartestree header saw Jones fire the ball wide, with Loveridge doing well to recover it from the near sideline and feeding it back in, only to see an obstinate home defence again nod the ball to safety.

Jake Bramley replaced Branch in a third change of personnel from Butcher, as a determined Loveridge battled through the defence in the box to produce an effort which slipped narrowly wide of the near post, before perhaps the key moment of the entire second period occurred on the 68^thminute when Bonfield’s outstretched foot knocked a much more threatening shot from Richards just enough off course, with the audible cry of anguish from the opposing attacker indicating how aware he was of just how costly this particular squandered opportunity would turn out to be.

Loveridge then managed to get the ball to Bramley while under pressure on the far wing, only for the visiting outfit’s latest substitute player to be flagged offside in a controversial manner by the Bartestree linesman running the far sideline, as another change to the Ledbury line-up saw Jones come off for upcoming teenager George Hackman.

Gwynne then evaded a sliding Kenny to fire home a consolation goal for his side which had been coming for quite some time, before Skittery, usually goal-hungry but just not receiving the luck that afternoon, was caught offside twice in a matter of minutes by both Darley and the Bartestree linesman while battling against former New Street player Luke Cox in the box on the latter occasion.

Jones responded by flagging a home striker offside from the near sideline, even if the opposing forward blasted the ball well over the bar regardless, as Bartestree received two yellow cards in swift succession for felling both Hackman and Clueit.

Cox then nodded the ball into the bar in a final let-off for the reserves, with both Potter and a home counterpart being spoken to by the official shortly after the visiting youngster re-entered the fray for Loveridge for the final five minutes, as the hosts picked up a third and final booking for dissent.

Bramley then missed a sitter in the box, with Cox again going on to block Skittery from around the penalty spot as Potter couldn’t connect with a final ball into the box from Alistair Holder to see the Ledbury second string acquire all three points, although with a degree of regret over the many missed opportunities to improve their goal difference.

Butcher was pleased with the result, although admitted there were shortcomings:

“It was a game of two halves really, although I felt we dominated both the game and ball throughout the ninety minutes.”

“We should have been out of sight by the end of the first half, but we failed to take our chances; in fact if it wasn’t for Zak in goal, we would have dropped another two points as we let them come back into the game and gave them many opportunities to score.”

“Considering we haven’t played in four weeks, the lads did perform well. Hopefully we can now kick on and pick up more points.”

The reserves will hope to win these further points in a fortnight’s time when they face current third place holders Ross Juniors HCL at the Ross-on-Wye Sports Centre, KO 2:00pm.