Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

PHOTO: Tom Boyle grabbed two goals and two assists against Ludlow Town. 

Ledbury Town outclassed Ludlow in a superb 5-1 victory at Ludlow’s Community Stadium on Saturday.

First half goals from Ben Febery and Ben Miller, a second half brace from Tom Boyle, and an excellent Alfie Regan finish rounded off an outstanding away performance for Ledbury. Only a late Ludlow consolation tarnished an otherwise flawless afternoon for Town.

Ledbury took the lead inside 12 minutes. Tom Boyle’s freekick from the left was met by Ben Febery, who powered his header past the Ludlow keeper.

Ledbury quickly found their rhythm with Boyle and Alfie Regan looking dangerous every time they received the ball. Regan dazzled with a fabulous turn and reverse pass from the middle of the pitch to find an overlapping Dwayne Tyndale through on goal, but Ludlow’s keeper was quick off his line to smother the chance.

Boyle and Regan combined to double Ledbury’s lead in the 24th minute. Regan burst down the right and clipped the ball to the far post to Boyle. He cut inside to his right foot and played a beautifully weighted pass to Ben Miller who arrived on the edge of the box and dispatched the ball accurately into the corner of the net.

It started raining chances for Ledbury to extend the lead further before half time. Lewis Williams forced a close range save from the Ludlow keeper after more Boyle trickery in the box. Williams was involved again, working superbly down the right to set up Regan but his shot went wide, and Williams was brought down for a penalty, but Boyle’s spot kick was saved.

But moments after the restart, Town were gifted their third goal. A long ball over the top from Ledbury keeper Alex Goode was completely misjudged by his opposite number who came rushing out of his area to clear and missed the bouncing ball, and Tom Boyle raced through to score into the empty net. Ten minutes later, Boyle scored again. Ben Febery curved a beautiful pass in behind the Ludlow defence, and Boyle rushed through and sat the keeper down before smashing the ball in.

Ledbury completed their scoring in the 78^th minute through the dynamic Regan. His performance deserved a goal, and after some good build up play from Ledbury, substitute Kieran Loveridge played Regan in with a brilliant through ball from a central area, and Regan rifled home. Two minutes from time, Ludlow grabbed a consolation goal after some careless play from Ledbury, culminating in Goode’s attempted clearance getting blocked and the ball fell to a Ludlow striker who found the wide-open goal. Nonetheless, the ignominy of January’s ugly 4-1 defeat at Ludlow was put to rest here with an outstanding Ledbury performance.