Competition: Herefordshire Football League Premier Division

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Tenbury United vs Ledbury Town

A Tyler Weir hattrick and goals from Craig Howell and Lewis Williams secured a comfortable victory for Ledbury Town at Tenbury on Saturday.

Ledbury hit their stride early and dominated the match, scoring three times in the first half. Inside seven minutes, Weir burst forward and was brought down on the edge of the box. Craig Howell’s low freekick clipped the side of the wall, evaded the keeper and hit the corner of the net.

Town kept up the pressure, with Howell and Weir combining with Sam Webb to play in Lewis Williams inside the box and he turned shot into the corner of the goal to double Ledbury’s lead inside quarter of an hour.

The first half was by far the best Town had passed, and kept, the ball all season and Tenbury were chasing shadows for long periods. This patience was rewarded as just before half time Ledbury scored again. The ball was fired into Williams on the edge of the Tenbury area, with his back to goal, Tenbury’s centre back stepped in to poke the ball away, however it landed at the feet of Weir who whipped a left footed shot from the right of the box into the far corner.

Six minutes after the break, Ledbury increased their lead further. A well worked thrown in from the right found Howell, who played in Weir behind the defence. His initial shot was well saved by the Tenbury keeper but he couldn’t hold the ball and Weir scored at the second attempt.

Ledbury made some substitutions which affected the team’s fluency and opened up the match. Williams burst down the right and flashed a lovely low ball across the box which just evaded Branch and Lee arrived to meet the ball at the back post and put it over. Tenbury then threatened, with a cross in from the right to a free man at the back post but he inexplicably missed the target with a header from close range.

Just as Tenbury showed some spirit, Ledbury crushed all hope. James Febery won a powerful header on the half way line, sending Williams clear down the right wing again. He drove to the touchline and cut the ball back expertly for Weir who made no mistake completing his hattrick.

Both teams had good chances in the final 20 minutes, with Ledbury losing defensive discipline and allowing Tenbury a number of good opportunities to break their duck, but Alex Goode made an excellent 1v1 save and Tenbury blazed wide another chance from close range, allowing Town to maintain the clean sheet and take all the points.

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Ledbury Town vs Holme Lacy

Josh Burns scored a last-minute winner to complete a brilliant comeback victory for Ledbury Town against Holme Lacy on Saturday.

Despite Dean Lee’s first half goal, Ledbury were 3-1 down after an hour and the game looked over. However, Town showed fantastic spirit in the final 20 minutes, with a Ben Febery penalty and a Craig Howell goal bringing them level before Burns’s last gasp strike sent New Street into hysterics.

After a defeat at Malvern last weekend and a disappointing midweek draw to Worcester United, Ledbury needed to turn their form around but were behind inside seven minutes. A wicked freekick from outside the box beat Alex Goode in the Ledbury goal, but hit the post with Holme Lacy reacting first and scoring from the rebound. It should have been two as five minutes later Lacy missed a header from point blank range.

Ledbury finally got into the game with Josh Burns looking lively, and he cut inside from the left and shot narrowly wide from the corner of the box. Within moments Ben Miller drove down the left and pulled the ball back into the box. Dean Lee was first to it and stumbled after a late tackle. As everyone else shouted for a penalty, Lee recovered his footing to prod the ball past the keeper to equalise.

Parity was short-lived. Ten minutes before half time, Ledbury failed to clear their lines. Holme Lacy got in down the right, pulled the ball back across the box and while the initial shot hit the post, the Lacy striker was first to react again and turned in the loose ball.

With Ledbury captain Joel Skyers having to leave the field with an injury, things went from bad to worse. On the hour mark, a straight ball through the Ledbury defence found the Lacy striker through on goal and he made no mistake.

Ledbury had to find something. Anything. And some perceived officiating injustices were the order of the day. In his last action of the game, Miller was sent through on goal for Ledbury and was brought down 25 yards out by the last Holme Lacy defender. The ref gave a freekick, and only a yellow card. Ledbury couldn’t make anything of the set piece but in the 70th minute Kieran Loveridge, on for Miller, latched on to a ball over the top, and was brought down in the box for a penalty. The same defender who, arguably should have been sent off for the earlier foul on Miller, somehow avoided a second yellow card for the last-ditch foul on Loveridge. Regardless, Ben Febery stepped up and smashed the penalty past the keeper.

Town took full control and pushed forward, committing numbers to find the equaliser. Brilliant football from Ledbury as Febery played a wonderful pass down the left for Burns and he pulled the ball back into the box for Craig Howell to meet and slot home, drawing Ledbury level.

The final ten minutes was frantic, with anything resembling a football match being replaced with basketball; end-to-end stuff, with both teams looking for their Last Dance. With Ledbury’s Michael Jordan hanging up his boots two weeks into the season, it was left to Scottie Pippen to win it for Town – and, in injury time, he did. Josh Burns collected the ball on the left side of the box, elegantly skipped past two defenders and smashed the ball across the keeper into the far corner of the net to win the game and spark wild celebrations.

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