Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

George Walker puts away a second successful 75th penalty against Shobdon to complete his first hat-trick scored in senior level football (📸: Chris Ponter)

Ledbury Town stormed through to the semi-finals of this season’s Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl cup competition this week through achieving their biggest win in years, dismantling Shobdon with an emphatic 11-2 victory while battling against bitterly cold windy conditions at the aerodrome venue of the current Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division basement boys.

With a double-figure scoreline not seen since the league demolition of Pegasus Reserves at New Street four years ago, and the biggest Ledbury win since their 8-0 thrashing of Welland during the second league game of the season played at home in mid-September if the Pegasus fixture is discounted due to them pulling out of the local league in late 2017, Tom Trigg opened the scoring quarter of an hour in, before the visitors’ man of the match Ben Miller as well as James Febery and Scott Roberts all found the target before the first period was up.

Despite Shobdon managing to rob Town of a clean sheet again after the visitors recorded a 5-1 league victory away at Ewyas Harold seven days previously, as Alfie Hurley and Timothy Stanley found the consolation goals on this occasion, the latter half of play saw ball after ball from the black and white shirts hit the back of the net.

Miller reached four, with twenty-year-old George Walker scoring his first hat-trick in senior level football assisted by two successful penalties, as Sam Branch also added to the New Street first string’s extraordinary goal tally on the day, making full amends for their cancelled opening league fixture of the season at this airfield-based ground nearly three months previously on account of no referee being available.

The few brave spectators who had made the trip to experience the most freezing fixture played by Ledbury in recent memory were treated to a good chance for Merrick’s men to open what was to be their gargantuan scoring account that afternoon after just ten minutes of play, when the opposing keeper blocked Nathan Ince with his feet before he and one of his defenders prevented Febery from finishing the rebound.

After the Shobdon goaltender required a brief bout of treatment on the pitch in the process of challenging Town’s brace-scorer against Ewyas Harold seven days previously for the ball, Trigg took the opportunity to run behind the group of players from both sides in the box, cheekily slotting home the corner ball from Roberts which had sailed over the bodies in the box to open the floodgates for his side that day.

Visiting keeper James Loader, making his second appearance for Ledbury’s senior side following his debut at Ewyas Harold last weekend, was then required to clear the ball away from danger on the line, before a 20th minute deflection from a home right-back over the touchline saw Roberts’ second corner ball being dealt with by the aerodrome defence, as Chris Wickham ran in to strike the ball against the opposing back-line.

A third consecutive corner set-piece from Roberts was safely caught by the Shobdon keeper above the swarm of players in the box, before yet another Town corner ball, this time struck by Miller from the near corner, was carried by the strong cross-winds to curl just wide of the top corner of the frame.

Ince used his trademark pace to race away from a defender in pursuit down the near wing, only to fire the ball into the back netting from the touchline, before a 28th minute free kick from a home forward was struck to the right of the three-man wall of Dwayne Tyndale, Wickham and Roberts to travel well over the target.

Miller swiftly replied with a direct effort from twenty yards out to double his side’s lead, before Loader leapt to catch a curling cross-shot from the opposition, assisted on its trajectory by the fierce gales battering their ground at the tail-end of Storm Arwen.

Some great defensive work from Wickham denied a Shobdon striker of a goalscoring opportunity before the hosts slipped the ball narrowly wide of the far post, before The Dons’ goaltender performed admirably in order to deflect two quick-fire attempted tap-ins from both Miller and Trigg again with his feet, even if there was little he could do to stop a determined Febery racing forward to fire home the second rebound.

Roberts then ran in to strike the ball cleanly into the net from just inside the box to place his opponents’ chances of progressing past the quarter-finals of the contest in jeopardy, with the Shobdon linesman then flagging for offside to the agreement of referee Mark Ammonds, putting paid to either Ince or Miller performing the finish barely a minute after Roberts had made it four.

A free kick from the hosts taken towards the far wing was then deflected to see the visitors race away on the break, with Ince’s effort after making another speedy advance across field only just being deflected off the outstretched foot of an opposing defender pursuing him into the box.

Ledbury missed two further chances to record a fifth mark on the scoresheet before the interval when Miller put the ball narrowly wide of the near post off yet another rebound, before a final corner ball was nodded towards the far side of the field by Tyndale.

Town continued to unleash a storm of goals matching the power of Arwen going into the second period as Branch struck the fifth on the 50th minute, before Shobdon, much to their credit in continuing to respond despite having an increasingly improbable task cast before them, nodded a corner ball to bounce just shy of the near post.

Visiting manager Ian Merrick took full advantage of his side’s seemingly insurmountable lead by letting loose his entire subs bench on to the affair on the 55th minute as Wickham, Branch, Charlie Docherty and Ince all came off for Curt Williams, Asten Griffiths, Walker and Pete Jeynes respectively to warm themselves up on the field in the frigid conditions, moments before their side hit six courtesy of Miller’s impressive 25-yard direct free kick.

Hurley managed to bag the first of his beleaguered squad’s consolatory goals, before disaster struck once again for the green shirts when Walker fired home his first penalty after Jeynes was brought down in the box.

The goals continued to rain in as Miller completed his treble, and, after a moment of controversy on the 64th minute when Wickham apparently flagged erroneously for offside with Ammonds nevertheless choosing to give the ball back to Tyndale, Walker happened to find himself positioned in just the right spot in the area, seeing the ball land neatly for him in order to slot it home and complete a second Ledbury brace.

Walker then allowed Miller to send their team’s goal tally into double figures by providing a great cross to allow the more seasoned of the two Town players to flick the ball in, with the promising younger player being dually rewarded for his generosity through being gifted a second penalty opportunity after he himself was felled in the box.

The spot kick was coolly converted into the bottom corner of the net for an inaugural trio of senior level goals notched up by a player just out of his teens, impressively put away in the space of fifteen minutes as a ravenous home squad were in no mood to settle for eleven, with a showy Febery bicycle-kick sending the ball narrowly wide of the far post as a further twenty-yard effort from Roberts sailed well over the woodwork.

A final corner ball from Williams saw Trigg knock the ball just wide from close range, before Loader was then called upon to make one of very few saves needed throughout a highly one-sided latter half of play.

A defensive error from Trigg allowed a spirited home outfit to take the ball round Loader and put away a second consolation mark on their final score, shortly before the game had to be paused briefly due to a pitch invasion from some four-legged visitors from the local hunt.

In the end however, whether it be through the persistent freezing winds, to put Shobdon out of their misery with no way back from a nine-goal deficit, or indeed a combination of both these factors, Ammonds chose to blow the final whistle five minutes early to send Merrick’s high-flying side through in very comfortable fashion to the penultimate stage of the competition.

Town’s latest semi-final fixture will be a far stiffer challenge than their quarter-final affair however, with the New Street first string being due to face either of current league leaders Hartpury University or former league champions Clee Hill United in the next round, as Ledbury’s penultimate opponents remain undecided due to their own quarter-final fixture at Hartpury’s ground being postponed this weekend.

Merrick’s men, slipping to second in the league table by a single point after Hartpury’s 2-0 victory at home over Ewyas Harold in the fixture which replaced the above cup fixture, now face two further league games to try and regain the top spot before 2021 is out despite Hartpury’s sizeable three-game advantage, travelling to Wellington this coming weekend (KO 3:30pm), and ending the year with a visit to current fifth place holders Ludlow Town Colts at the Ludlow Stadium on Saturday 18th December (KO 2:00pm).