Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

The Ledbury Town squad line up with their young Ledbury Swifts mascots before kick-off of the biggest game of the season so far (📸: Chris Ponter)

Ledbury Town’s remarkable winning streak since the start of the current Herefordshire Football League Premier Division season, with seven wins in seven games as well as a Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl first round win against title holders Hereford Pegasus Reserves, was finally brought to an end this week as a number of missed opportunities during the first period of play resulted in a 2-2 draw against second place holders at the time Kington Town.

Top of the league Ledbury took a very early lead under the Friday evening floodlights in front of the biggest crowd of spectators seen at New Street so far this season courtesy of a fifth minute screamer from Tom Boyle, with Ian Merrick’s senior squad going on to dominate the next twenty minutes of play although without managing to secure what would have been a crucial two or three goal buffer.

Kington similarly couldn’t open their account for the remainder of the first half of play despite being quick on the break, even if this asset would go on to pay dividends playing downhill into the second period as Elliot Williams drew them level seven minutes from the break when a sleeping Town thought the woodwork had saved them.

The visitors put themselves ahead for the first and only time that evening when man of the match for the blue shirts Sam Roberts fired home on the 67th minute, before returning home player James Febery saved the point twelve minutes from time through slipping a corner ball past the opposing goalkeeper.

Accompanied on to the field by their young Ledbury Swifts mascots for their biggest game of the season so far, Ledbury were on the attack immediately from referee Adrian Rocke’s starting whistle as Ben Febery’s effort following a rebound off the Kington keeper was saved by the visiting goaltender, before an opening strike from Boyle was denied by an opposing goal guardian who had already been given plenty to do.

A first Town corner ball of the affair delivered by captain and start home player that night Joel Skyers was slotted just shy of the far post by James Febery while under pressure from the Kington defence, before Boyle drilled the ball home in magnificent style to the sound of euphoria echoing around Ledbury’s well-attended historic ground.

The quarter-hour mark saw Skyers sent tumbling just outside the box to see the free kick from Boyle being struck over the crossbar, before the top Town marksman made a strong run down the near wing with a defender in hot pursuit to see his cross being nodded clear by another member of the visiting back-line.

Fancy footwork from Boyle coming in along the touchline towards the near post then saw him volley a short ball towards Josh Burns lying in wait, only for the ball to be deflected away by an opposing keeper who was audibly frustrated at his defence for allowing the black and white shirts to continuously break through.

A further deflected cross from Boyle saw the corner ball this time struck by Febery being nodded clear of the box, before Tom Trigg and Ryan Pugh were given a chance to capitalize on the 21st minute when a decidedly unsteady Kington goaltender failed to retrieve the ball when it bounced off his chest.

Boyle continued to be a threat in and around the box as the visiting keeper again neglected to use his hands to stop an effort from deflecting off him, scrambling a number of yards forwards in order to this time make the recovery, before a foul from his side on the near wing saw the hosts squander yet another chance to pull a further goal ahead when the free kick was flicked on and into the keeper by Pugh.

Kington were also guilty of wasting corner ball opportunities back upfield as Burns took over possession from Boyle who had been felled a few yards outside the box, only for the usually-formidable Ledbury striker to fire the ball well wide of the target as the 35th minute saw Skyers’ free kick from thirty yards out making it over the keeper before landing just shy of the far post to cries of anguish from his supporters.

Pugh then raced in to see his effort blocked by the visiting goaltender as a cross-shot back up the far end was punched away by Town keeper Alex Goode leaping off his line, with the home defence managing to block the follow-up effort before Skyers received a blow to the ear, fortunately being able to continue playing as Rocke gave the ball back to the opposing goaltender.

The closing minutes of the first period saw the Kington keeper just about manage to palm clear a home corner ball in amongst the numerous bodies leaping up against him at the near post as one of his defenders cleared the ball from the touchline, with Pugh slipping a final effort wide of the woodwork as Ledbury were left to rue a first half of play where they really should have added at least a couple more goals to their name.

Trigg was swapped for Pete Jeynes over the break as Goode started the second period in a plucky yet assured manner through outwitting a visiting attacker on the ball in the box before playing it a good few yards out, before a first free kick from the opposition after the interval was dealt with through some confident Town defending.

The hosts were caught out entirely however after both the near post and crossbar saved them in quick succession, failing to retrieve the ball after it had been denied by the latter piece of woodwork as the cross back in from a Kington forward on the near touchline allowed Williams to restore the stalemate.

A twenty-yard effort in reply from Ben Febery was met with a solid block from a visiting defender before Boyle received the only yellow card of the game, before Ledbury had to battle just to keep the ball out as a risky two-footed challenge from Ben Febery on the near wing could have landed the daring youngster in hot water with Rocke had it connected.

Boyle, seemingly struggling to find the target during the latter half of play then volleyed the ball wide of the far post back upfield, before new signing from Newent this season Cosmin Micula replaced Burns in a second substitution of the evening from Merrick.

The game was turned on its head when a strike from Roberts soared into the back of the net, before a solid defensive header from Jeynes in front of goal to deflect a cross from the near wing led to a corner ball which saw James Febery make a painful-looking block to the groin which required play to stop briefly to allow him time to recover from the blow.

The re-debuting player soon got his own back however by sneaking in the corner ball which drew his team back level, and, after Chris Wickham came on in exchange for Zac Blood for the final ten minutes as the opposition were forced to change their keeper through injury, some sloppy Town defending on the far wing was saved through an offside flag being raised by assistant referee Malcolm Johns.

Kington had to make a further substitution for injury reasons with minutes left on the clock as a free kick from Skyers past the dual wall of visiting players was deflected clear, before Boyle’s final effort from the near post was denied only through a great diving save from the opposing replacement goaltender as the corner ball again delivered by Skyers just couldn’t provide a now-desperate home outfit with the badly-needed winner.

Stoppage time saw a pacy Kington attacker evade both Dale Taylor and Skyers in a speedy pursuit down the near wing, with the resulting cross having no-one there to meet it on the opposite side of the field as a fine concluding save from Goode ended the night with an all-square scoreline.

Merrick reflected after the game over a performance which started brightly, even if the opposition were let back in to achieve the draw:

“The first half was very pleasing; we could have scored after 25 seconds, which is something we’ve been working towards in terms of starting positively and playing on the front foot.”

“It was nice to get an early goal, even if Kington then grew into the game and it became a bit of a basketball-style affair with gaps in the middle of the pitch.”

“After about half an hour of play we fully let them back into the game, which was disappointing. All credit to Kington though, they’re a good side and have won five out of six games.”

“They battled back into the game even if we gave away two very sloppy goals; the first goal in particular was absolutely criminal and we completely switched off at the back.”

“We didn’t take our chances during the second half when we had them, but all credit to our lads, for the last twenty minutes Ledbury were definitely the team pushing to ultimately win the game.”

“Generally speaking however, the performance just wasn’t good enough this evening.”

Although disappointing in terms of their perfect record coming to an end, Merrick’s men remain unbeaten four points clear ahead of Pegasus Reserves after the Hereford-based outfit claimed the second spot from Kington through a 4-0 home victory over basement boys Gloucester City Under 21s the same evening, and look to return to winning ways with a second consecutive Friday night fixture this coming week against sixth-placed Ludlow Town Colts (KO 7:30pm).

Ledbury will then play the Pegasus second string for a second time at Old School Lane in the space of a month in league action the following Saturday (KO 2:30pm), after a brace from Boyle and a goal from Ben Febery weren’t enough to prevent the aforementioned Charity Bowl affair from going to penalties as Corey Ellis, Harvey Evans and substitute player Charlie Jenkins all scored for the hosts.

Pugh, Blood and Ben Febery all put away their respective spot kicks with ease however, as Goode made a pair of great saves to send Town through to the next round of a competition they reached the final of last season, losing out 3-1 to the Reserves at the Herefordshire FA County Ground with Saul Thomas picking up a brace and Harvey Evans also on target for Pegasus, as Ledbury’s sole goal came courtesy of George Walker.