Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

A full-pitch shot, showing the heavy fine rain which made for some challenging conditions during Ledbury Town Reserves’ Ross Cup first-round encounter against Ewyas Harold (📸: Chris Ponter)

After making it to the quarter-final stages last season, being undone by Burghill Rangers in an 8-5 goalfest in the hosts’ favour at The Copse, Ledbury Town Reserves’ latest Ross Cup campaign ended rather sooner this season, bowing out in the first round with a 3-2 defeat against Ewyas Harold at New Street.

In the third consecutive Friday night fixture played under the floodlights at Ledbury’s historic ground, heavy fine rain made for some challenging slippery conditions for David Butcher and Harry Powell’s young squad, compounded by Ewyas Harold getting themselves off the mark through an early successful penalty from Luke Price following a handball offence committed by Callum Blackmore-Davey.

Kieran Loveridge managed to restore the deadlock five minutes from the interval through a superb header to finish a great ball into the box from Kane Bruton, but, even though reserves man of the match Alistair Holder found a second on the brink of the final whistle, the visitors’ two goals scored within four minutes of each other during the latter half of play, with Price completing his treble and Matthew Norton finding a third, meant that it was all a case of too little too late for the hosts.

The ball bounced in Ledbury’s box on the sodden surface to catch Blackmore-Davey’s hand in unfortunate fashion to enable the opposition to open their account on only the tenth minute of play, before the Ewyas Harold goalkeeper was forced to rush out and claim the ball under Loveridge sliding into the six-yard area.

The reserves’ first goalscorer that evening tried again, making a run down the near wing to feed in a ball which the visiting keeper mis-struck in unsteady fashion as one of his defenders recovered the error, before a first home free kick of the evening taken by a determined Loveridge went wide of the near post.

The same Ledbury forward was fouled on the near wing to give the opposition a first yellow card of the evening from referee Dean Macdonald, before the visibly-frustrated reserves regular saw the ball bounce past him and into the Ewyas Harold goaltender’s gloves after Alistair Holder was given a free kick opportunity on the half-hour mark.

Blackmore-Davey kept the ball away from the attacker to his right in nodding clear a spot kick from the visitors, before the opposing keeper had to slide across the box to keep the ball away as it went out to Brad Potter, racing down the near wing as his effort was blocked and caught on the ground by the busy Ewyas Harold goaltender.

Loveridge’s 40th minute corner ball was headed towards the far wing, being fed back in via Bruton’s brilliant ball to see the set-piece taker rush in and leap up at the perfect time to catch the ball with the top his head, sending it into the net behind him to get his side off the mark.

The visitors very nearly pulled themselves ahead again before the break when their free kick bounced to clip the far post past diving home keeper Joshua Worrell, with Blackmore-Davey dealing with the ensuing corner ball via another solid defensive header to keep the scoreline at one goal apiece at half-time.

The rain eased going into the second period as a striker from the Welsh border managed to evade both Blackmore-Davey and Ledbury captain Jai Smallwood on the touchline as Worrell was forced to catch the cross-shot, before a spot kick from the orange shirts was directly struck against the three-man wall of Nick Bolton, Alistair Holder and Sam Booth.

Loveridge was brought down through a bad challenge on the 50th minute to see his free kick being blocked in the box as an opposing defender took no chances firing the ball over the neighbouring cemetery wall, before a further Ewyas Harold spot kick saw them handle the ball outside the reserves’ box to give Blackmore-Davey a free kick of his own.

Yet another spot kick this time struck by Bolton travelled just shy of the near post upfield, and, after the same home player was booked and duly substituted for Charlie Jones with Sam Branch coming off for Samuel Palmer-Young five minutes later, a visiting attacker overcame Matti Holder but with Blackmore-Davey being able to block the shot in a continued good defensive display.

Butcher brought Booth off for recent new signing Petro Savchuk as Bruton then lunged in with a two-footed challenge towards the near sideline to see Macdonald show a second Ledbury yellow card of the affair, and, after Potter was exchanged for Clayton Hodges with Ewyas Harold making a change of their own, Price completed his brace through netting from a corner on the 76th minute.

Norton lobbed both Blackmore-Davey and Worrell to swiftly extend his side’s lead with ten minutes left on the clock, with Branch re-entering the fray for Bruton for the final few minutes as the visitors tried to lob Worrell again, but this time with the effort landing on top of the netting.

The village-based outfit managed to evade Blackmore-Davey and race away upfield once again however on the break only to be flagged offside by Booth taking up linesman duties on the near sideline, before Holder’s late goal was followed by some ugly end scenes as an ill-advised Ewyas Harold challenge on the near sideline led to Smallwood pushing a member of the opposition with Alistair Holder joining in the fray as well, even if it was the visitors whom Macdonald sanctioned with a final booking of the affair.

Butcher was very disappointed to exit the Ross Cup contest at such an early stage, citing a mediocre team performance combined with the challenging conditions as the reason for defeat on the night:

“It was a very slow start from us against a good team and we got punished early on, even if the conditions were not ideal for us to try and play football the way we wanted.”

“We got back into the game too little too late, and it cost us. It was disappointing to go out of the cup so early on and everyone was gutted, but we must move on.”

The reserves are not out of cup action yet this season, remaining in contention for the Herefordshire FA Junior Cup after making it to the second round of the competition through a 4-0 victory over Hinton Reserves at Broomy Hill at the start of October, with Branch netting a hat-trick and Bruton also on target as home player Dan Harris received a 90th minute straight red card from referee Christopher Stansbury.

Butcher and Powell’s side will face Leominster Town at New Street on Saturday 10th December (KO 2:00pm), after the current Herefordshire Football League Division Two leaders cruised to the next stage of the contest with a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Dore Valley at the Bridge Street Sports Centre on the same day the Ledbury second string overcame Hinton’s reserves squad, with Connor Bufton finding a brace for Leominster as team-mates Jordan Arkell, Ryan Botwood and Daniel Ramshaw-Evans also got themselves on the scoresheet.

Before this occurs however, Butcher and Powell’s team are still looking for a first win in their Herefordshire Football League Division One campaign, continuing the quest at New Street this coming weekend against none other than the Hinton second string in a league rematch (KO 2:30pm), before they begin November with another intriguing rematch against Ewyas Harold away on Bonfire Night (KO 2:00pm).