Ledbury Town Football Club

Match report

Tom Boyle swings in a freekick (📷:Chris Ponter).

Ledbury Town maintained their extraordinary start to the season with a 6-1 home hammering of Wellington Rangers to return to the top of the Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division. 

Six different goalscorers were on target, with Ledbury going 3-0 up after barely a quarter-hour of play courtesy of goals from Tom Boyle, Town man of the match that afternoon Ben Febery and Tom Trigg, with Scott Roberts, Nathan Ince and Josh Burns all finding the net within thirteen minutes of each other during a second period which saw the hosts remain dominant playing uphill.

Town didn’t leave the encounter unscathed however, with keeper Joshua Worrell having to be replaced by Ince late in the game after suffering a blow to the head on the ground as it took 78 minutes for Wellington to claw a single consolatory goal from the affair.

Boyle’s opener after just five minutes was followed by an exemplary free kick from Febery making it past the five-man wall of Rangers defenders to land in the bottom corner of the net, before Febery’s fifteenth-minute corner was finished by a Trigg sliding into the box as the opportunistic home defender sensed a prime gap in the visiting defensive structure.

The following quarter-hour witnessed a sustained Ledbury assault on the opposing goal as a cross from Ince was just missed by Boyle in the box. Both Burns and Boyle saw several chances to pull further goals ahead go astray through a combination of good work from Rangers goalkeeper Gonzalo Cruz and the woodwork.

The half-hour mark saw Ince being thwarted twice running down the wing, before seeing what would have been a fine consolation goal denied through nodding the ball just wide of the target from a Febery corner, before the visitors truly threatened for the first time when a close shot across the goalmouth saw the follow-up effort being blocked by Trigg.

One final opportunity for Town went begging as a terrific cross from Burns way out on the far wing saw Ince scuff the ball to clip the near post.

Dwayne Tyndale was swapped for Pete Jeynes over the break as goals from Roberts and Ince swiftly followed, with the latter Ledbury goalscorer just missing out on a brace moments later after doing well to get a boot to the ball before striking it narrowly wide of the target.

Worrell timed a dive well to retrieve the ball from both Rooke and an opposing attacker on the ground as Burns then found what was to be his side’s sixth and final goal off a 60^thminute cross-shot from the near wing, before the ensuing five minutes saw three substitutions as Burns, Ince and Febery all left the action in exchange for Curt Williams, George Walker and Asten Griffiths.

Strong defensive work from Dale Taylor on the near wing saw Griffiths rush in with Trigg to deflect the ball over the touchline for a Wellington corner, which was quickly dealt with via a defensive header from Taylor as a 25-yard Rangers effort then sailed well over the bar.

Walker put in a good amount of work upfield only to see his 75^thminute effort foiled by a visiting defender, as Chris Wickham then ran in to slot the ball just shy of the far post. Boyle went off for Charlie Docherty to make a late appearance in what was an intended final Town substitution, even if things didn’t go quite according to plan for the black and white shirts as, following Walker being judged to have committed a foul towards the near wing, a free kick was put past the dual wall of Griffiths and Taylor to rebound off Worrell, with Matthew Williams putting away the rebound although not without Worrell suffering a head injury in the process, deeming it necessary for Ince to don the keeper’s shirt for the remainder of the encounter.

The stand-in home keeper made a good save to stop one final free kick resulting from a further foul committed by Walker to see the Merrick’s men reclaim the top spot in the league, recording a stunning 25 goals scored in just four league games and one cup game.