Curt Williams, sharing the home man of the match accolade with one of two Ledbury brace-scorers that afternoon James Febery, strikes an opening twelfth minute Town free kick against the four-man wall of Holme Lacy defenders as their goalkeeper looks on (📸: Chris Ponter)

Ledbury Town returned to second place in the Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division this week, as braces from Tom Boyle and James Febery netted a comfortable 4-0 victory in a second meeting of the season against lowly Holme Lacy at a chilly New Street.

In a huge improvement from the disappointing goalless draw which resulted the last time the two sides met at Holme Lacy’s ground back in October, very much a case of cup hangover on Ledbury’s part after braces from Boyle and Josh Burns, together with goals from Scott Roberts and Nathan Ince pulled off a shock 6-0 upset against current Herefordshire FA County Challenge Cup champions Hereford Lads Club in the first round of this year’s competition at New Street, a relatively slow start to this latest encounter at Town’s historic ground saw Boyle and Febery find their openers within four minutes of each other, even if the latter player received an early yellow card from seasoned referee Stuart Buchanan.

In fact home goalkeeper James Loader had very little to do up to and past the interval as Febery slotted home a neat 53rd minute cross from Boyle to put Ledbury well and truly in the driving seat, with a successful penalty from Boyle providing the icing on the cake during an otherwise fairly uneventful second period save for the visitors picking up a booking and a very late straight red card.

A first corner ball and free kick for the blue and yellow shirts couldn’t provide them with anything of value during the opening five minutes, as Buchanan judged Febery to have committed a first home foul of the day in front of the newly-refurbished Bloor Homes stand at New Street.

A first Town free kick on the twelve minute mark was struck against the four-man wall of opposing defenders by Curt Williams, before Febery, sharing the home man of the match accolade with Williams that afternoon, received his yellow card for bringing down a rival defender in the process of both players leaping for an aerial ball on the near wing.

Burns put two efforts wide back upfield, but just as if it looked like Holme Lacy were fast-becoming a bogey team for Ian Merrick’s men, the notion was swiftly put to bed when a Ben Miller cross was deflected by a visiting defender to see the resulting corner ball from the former Westfields striker nodded home by Febery to get the black and white shirts off the mark.

This was quickly followed by Boyle producing a superb strike to suddenly double his side’s lead, as a threatening cross-shot from Ince on the half-hour mark was deflected off for a Ben Febery corner.

Roberts decisively blocked and deflected a cross from the opposition over the touchline back downfield to see the ensuing corner ball headed clear of the edge of the box by Ledbury captain Tom Trigg, before Burns went into defensive mode himself, charging down the near wing to try and keep the ball away from a Holme Lacy attacker as Dale Taylor was on hand to fire the ball definitively over the neighbouring cemetery wall.

A further quartet of visiting players were put up against another Town free kick, this time struck by Boyle to curl over the wall and land just behind the net, before a final cross from Boyle came off the foot of an incoming Ince to provide the opposing keeper with an easy save going into the break.

George Walker and Morgan Skidmore came on for Burns and Ince over the half-time interval, with the second period continuing to see the hosts threaten with an effort which was deflected off an Holme Lacy defender just shy of the far post, before Buchanan brushed appeals from Ledbury players and supporters aside when Ben Febery came down in the box.

A Miller free kick taken shortly afterwards then soared past Town’s forwards in the box, before the elder of the Febery siblings completed his double courtesy of Boyle’s fine cross.

A further good ball from the prolific home striker was flicked on by Walker in the box to see Skidmore put an effort just wide of the woodwork, before the visitors came the closest to scoring all game in firing the ball wide of the near post in a one-on-one situation with Loader, as the Ledbury goaltender was given his only real bit of work to do that afternoon.

A quiet next twenty minutes saw both Asten Griffiths and Alistair Holder take over from the Febery brothers, before a foul committed against the latter of these two substitute players in the box allowed Boyle to calmly convert the penalty which completed yet another brace this season.

A booking for Town’s opponents soon after the spot kick was taken saw Boyle hold on to the ball just that little too long in the box before eventually being mugged by the Holme Lacy defence, before Ben Holland made his debut for the hosts in coming on for Miller for the final five minutes

A rather rash foul from a visiting midfielder, possibly made out of frustration over his side failing to get on the scoresheet that afternoon, then sent Skidmore crashing to the ground over on the far sideline to see Buchanan produce an immediate red with barely a minute to go, as Ledbury were left merely to celebrate finally reclaiming the second spot in the table.

Merrick’s high-flying squad will look to further this success with a visit to mid-table Welland at the Upton Hill Community Centre this coming weekend, before ending March with a first league game of the season against Shobdon at New Street the following Saturday (both games KO 2:30pm).

Town will aim to merely add to the 8-0 demolition of Welland at New Street during the second league game of the season back in mid-September, when a further brace from Boyle along with goals from Ben Febery, Miller, Burns, Ince and substitute players Charlie Docherty and Williams contributed to the biggest Town victory since the 11-2 home hammering of Hereford Pegasus Reserves back in November 2017, and the most sizeable win since the 9-1 thrashing of Walsall-based Red Star Alma at New Street back when Ledbury were in Division One of the West Midlands Regional League in February 2013 if the Pegasus fixture is to be discounted due to them pulling out of the Herefordshire League later that season.

The original opening game against the league’s basement boys on the very first day of the current season was cancelled on account of no referee being available at Shobdon Airfield, with the first re-scheduled date at the aerodrome venue being postponed three weeks ago owing to the numerous waterlogged pitches created by Storm Eunice.

Despite not locking horns with Shobdon in league play so far this season, the black and white shirts have already recorded a stunning 11-2 thrashing of the bottom table holders during a bitterly cold Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl cup quarter-final fixture at their aerodrome pitch back in late November, when Miller struck four, twenty-year-old Walker found his first hat-trick at senior level football with the aid of two penalties, and James Febery, Trigg, Roberts and Sam Branch all added to the visitors’ illustrious tally on the day.