Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

Ben Miller aims to take possession of the ball. (: Chris Ponter)

Following their euphoric 6-0 demolition of Hereford Lads Club in the opening round of this season’s Herefordshire FA County Challenge Cup competition, Ledbury Town were brought back down to earth with a bump drawing 0-0 away to Holme Lacy.

Despite countless chances for Josh Burns, Tom Boyle and Nathan Ince, who had all ran rampant against Lads Club at New Street three days previously, the goals just didn’t want to happen for Ian Merrick’s men as frustration from both sides over being denied a single mark on the scoresheet boiled over to result in referee Tom Fairclough issuing no fewer than eight yellow cards during a fiery second period.

The fouls began as early as the second minute as Ince committed a late challenge, before the hosts returned the favour in bringing down the pacy visiting marksman.

A nervy tenth minute for Ledbury occurred when captain Matt Rooke couldn’t quite prevent a cross being fed in from the corner flag, with a slight deflection off Curt Williams on the goal-line seeing Zak Bonfield palm the ball off for a corner. The set-piece was again deflected by Bonfield to be nodded over the bar by an opposing forward under pressure from the Town defence.

Some great 20^thminute work from George Walker on the near wing ended with the Ledbury youngster being fouled, providing three opportunities for Town to take the lead in rapid succession as the well-taken free kick from Miller saw Boyle miss the attempted diving header, with Burns striking the post as Ince volleyed the ball into the back of an opposing defender on the follow-up.

Bonfield then recovered a cross from the corner flag, with the half-hour mark seeing Ince hit the side-netting as Taylor performed a good defensive header back across field to provide Bonfield with a comfortable save.

The busy visiting keeper made another good save to palm a more threatening Holme Lacy effort away, before the trio of Burns, Boyle and Ince once again all had chances denied. Ledbury’s agony continued as Tom Trigg missed out on a header at the near post which would have finished a 38^thminute corner, before Boyle went on the run, only to knock the ball wide of the near post five minutes later as Town retired to the changing room for the interval.

Like the dull and chilly weather, things didn’t brighten up going into the second period for the visiting outfit as Pete Jeynes received a yellow card for a late challenge, before Merrick decided to switch his squad up by bringing Williams and Walker off for Chris Wickham and Alistair to make 50^thminute appearances.

After Holme Lacy picked up their first booking for a foul, with Burns again being flagged offside in a contentious manner, the temperature was turned up to eleven when the hosts received a second booking in the space of four minutes for another ill-advised challenge. Calls for calm worked as the game continued, as did Ledbury’s anguish as two consecutive corner balls saw Boyle connect with the header only to see the ball bounce off the far post, while an effort from Trigg receiving the ball from the second set-piece was blocked by a defender.

Holme Lacy’s third yellow card came through felling Burns, with the home assailant being lucky not to give away a penalty as the contact was made just outside the box to send the Town striker flying into it, as the free kick from Boyle was palmed away by the keeper. Ince then raced away on the break as the woodwork may just as well have been a twelfth man for the opposition that afternoon as it again denied the strike, before a quickly-taken corner ball from Boyle to Miller saw the former Westfields striker put the ball wide.

Miller committed a foul of his own for a second yellow card for the visitors on the 70^thminute, before volleying wide a further great cross from Boyle as the goals continued to elude both players, as Boyle’s later direct shot was saved after Ince managed to get the ball to his team-mate.

Sam Branch entering the fray for Burns with ten minutes left, before Bonfield managed to catch a free kick and then Chris Wickham became the latest Ledbury player to be denied by the stubborn far post.

Concluding heated moments prompted Fairclough to show a pair of yellow cards as the single point taken from this ill-tempered affair was no doubt far more valued by the hosts in keeping them off the foot of the league table away from Shobdon than it was to a despondent visiting outfit, who had experienced quite the comedown from the fairy tale ending of Wednesday night.