Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

James Kenny just misses out on blocking an opposing striker from producing a 24th minute effort from just outside the box, as home captain Nick Bolton looks on behind them with Sam Branch being pictured further upfield (📸: Chris Ponter)

Ledbury Town Reserves’ extended run of misfortune in Division One of the Herefordshire FA County League, which has seen a goalless home draw against Tenbury United occur in-between three away losses to Burghill Rangers, Tenbury Town and Holme Lacy Reserves, continued this week during a Wednesday evening encounter at New Street, which saw David Butcher’s side see an extremely valuable three points snatched away from them in the cruellest possible manner as Hereford Pegasus Colts’ David Solway put away a crushing last-minute stoppage time equalizer.

With the Ledbury second string having already recorded a narrow 3-2 defeat against the league’s current fourth place holders at Old School Lane during a final game before the Christmas break, when Will Clarke found a Pegasus brace with team-mate Kieron Davies picking up the third goal for the Colts as Callum Blackmore-Davey and Potter found the target for the reserves, hopes were high that Butcher’s young squad could build upon the close loss incurred last time around, finding the win they have been searching for since the 3-1 victory achieved against Hinton Reserves at Broomy Hill back at the start of last month.

Sure enough, a goalless first half under the floodlights saw Potter again strike gold from a superb Sam Branch cross less than ten minutes into the latter period of play, with the scoreline remaining right up until an unexpectedly lengthy period of stoppage time which saw referee Mark Ammonds add on an additional six minutes, as Solway nodded home a final decisive corner ball.

The hosts started on the offensive, with an opening free kick from Kieran Loveridge being knocked over the crossbar upfield by Ledbury captain Nick Bolton, and, after the visiting goalkeeper was forced to leave his line in order to seize the ball, a great cross from Loveridge was met with a glancing header off Branch to see the ball hit the far post and end up with the opposing goaltender.

A superb challenge from Matti Holder back downfield on the far wing near the touchline forced a Pegasus corner ball which was deflected by reserves keeper Zak Bonfield leaping off his line, before a twelfth minute Colts strike from 25 yards out sailed harmlessly over the woodwork.

Holder’s free kick was struck wide to the far wing as twin sibling Alistair used his height advantage to nod the ball on to Loveridge in the box, with the ensuing volley from the regular home marksman being saved by the keeper.

A further Ledbury spot kick on the quarter-hour mark, this time taken by Bolton, again came off the head of Alistair Holder to be deflected off the visiting goaltender, before Alex Berry put the ball out over the touchline as Bonfield this time missed the corner ball which, fortunately for the reserves, saw no opposing players being present towards the far wing to receive it.

A 20th minute Pegasus effort from out of the blue at twenty yards out flew narrowly wide of the far post in a warning to the hosts, before Bolton tried to catch the Colts keeper out from the near wing at twenty yards out, putting the ball just over the bar to land behind the net.

A terrific challenge from Berry towards the near sideline back downfield saw a further spot kick from the Ledbury skipper bounce to provide the visiting goaltender with an awkward save, with an offside flag against the opposition shown by Potter running the near sideline before later coming on as a substitute for Alistair Holder over the interval seeing a further great challenge from the industrious Berry give a throw-in to Pegasus from the near sideline.

This led to a cross from the Colts which was palmed away by Bonfield with again no visiting players being present on the far wing to make something of the follow-up, before Berry continued his defensive stand by bringing an opposing attacker down again on the near sideline in a 50/50 situation which nevertheless saw Ammonds give the free kick to Pegasus.

Loveridge, in a similar manner to his captain earlier, also tried to catch the Colts keeper off-guard with a swiftly-taken effort which was still saved by the obstinate visiting goaltender, with one last 25-yard effort from the city-based outfit then travelling wide of the target before Bonfield came out to snatch the ball from an incoming attacker to end the half.

The second period began with a controversial offside flag being displayed by the Old School Lane linesman running the far sideline, only for Potter to respond by seizing the opportunity to charge towards the line, beating an opposing defender to Branch’s cross to finally break the deadlock.

The next ten minutes saw Loveridge sin-binned for dissent, even if the reserves target man was to be brought off on the 70th minute anyway for Samuel Palmer-Young, with this substitution being accompanied by Blackmore-Davey coming on for Matti Holder as Jake Bramley and Jake Clueit also entered the action in exchange for Branch and Bolton on the sixty-minute mark, with Bramley soon making his presence on the pitch felt with some great play against the Pegasus defence on the far wing, resulting in a promising strike which flew just wide of the top left-hand corner of the frame.

A fantastic display of defending from Jai Smallwood back upfield saw the first signs of the game getting ever so slightly more heated in contrast to the increasingly chilly conditions at New Street that evening, as an apparent foul from Town first team midfielder Asten Griffiths saw Ammonds refusing to give a free kick to the Colts despite vocal protestations from their linesman, before a late 85th minute final substitution from the visitors saw a great back heel from Bramley to Potter, who couldn’t quite keep possession of the ball on the touchline against the opposing defence.

An offside flag from Bolton shown against a Pegasus striker upfield was followed by Palmer-Young’s great cross to Bramley seeing the home striker stretch just that little too far to finish the ball while under pressure from two Colts defenders, with the ball sneaking just shy of the far post in what was the best chance that night for the black and white shirts to bag what would have been a critical second goal.

Loveridge rejoined the game at a late stage, with Ledbury man of the match that evening Chris Wickham leaving the action at a job well done for a consistent performance in midfield, before the extended period of added time saw some great play from sixteen-year-old Clueit, running the ball into the box as Griffiths raced in to knock the ball well over the woodwork.

After Potter couldn’t quite get his foot to an intended final cross from the near side of the box, the reserves’ failure to achieve the security of a second goal, adding further credence to the old footballing adage that a team is never safe at only 1-0 up, came back to bite them at the eleventh hour when Solway headed home the pivotal final corner ball, quite literally just before Ammonds blew the final whistle.

Despite the disappointment of losing the full valuable three points, Butcher was pleased with how his side played on the night:

“It was a great performance from the lads against a very tough and in-form side in Pegasus. It was two points dropped in my eyes however, and it’s always gutting to concede with the very last kick of the game.”

The Ledbury second string, once again remaining seventh in the table, have two further home games this month to try and buck the trend of a disappointing five weeks of football, hosting current fifth place holders Ross Juniors HCL at New Street this weekend, before entertaining sixth-placed Kington Town Reserves the following Saturday (both games KO 2:30pm).

A 2-1 loss resulted against Ross Juniors at the Ross-on-Wye Sports Centre at the end of January, during a scrappy stop-start affair which saw all the goals come from penalties awarded by referee Derek Smith, with Mike Donaldson scoring twice from the spot for the Juniors, Loveridge converting the reserves’ penalty and newcomer Sam Booth being named man of the match during his debut for Butcher’s side.

A heavier 5-2 defeat was incurred by Ledbury at Mill Street against Kington towards the end of September, when a Tom Crichton treble was accompanied by goals from booked team-mate Harry Bowen and Sam Roberts, with an own goal from the hosts occurring on the 67th minute after Branch found the net for the visitors three minutes before the interval, with Potter being awarded man of the match for Ledbury on this occasion.