Returning midfielder James Febery leaps for a sixteenth minute corner ball delivered by Curt Williams as Tom Trigg is shown beneath him with Dwayne Tyndale to the left (📸: Chris Ponter)

Following a 2-1 exit out of the quarter-finals of this season’s Herefordshire FA County Challenge Cup competition at the hands of Hellenic League outfit Hereford Pegasus earlier in the week, Ledbury Town showed great resolve and resilience in putting this disappointment behind them just three days later, scoring a comfortable 5-1 victory away at Ewyas Harold to stay top of the Herefordshire FA County League Premier Division.

All the goals came during a superb second half from Ian Merrick’s men, scoring four goals in the space of seven minutes as Ledbury man of the match James Febery announced his return to the New Street first string in emphatic style by scoring a brace, with Chris Wickham and Tom Boyle also on target before the latter player went on to complete a second Town double seven minutes from time.

The only negative for the visitors on the day was not quite managing to come away with a clean sheet despite a great effort from former reserves keeper James Loader in goal, making his debut for Ledbury’s senior squad this season as Ewyas Harold were able to fire the ball home on the rebound following a Dale Taylor clearance after Boyle’s first goal was scored.

A goalless first half, characterized by some sturdy defending from both sides although with Town gaining the greater opportunities, began with Curt Williams being denied a first chance for the black and white shirts through the efforts of a resolute home defender as the ball went back out to Boyle, who curled the ball well wide of the target.

Williams tried again on the tenth minute in knocking the ball just across the bar from towards the touchline, with James Febery and Wickham then being foiled by the opposing defence on the touchline as a 20thminute corner ball from Ben Febery was nodded just wide of the far post by Dwayne Tyndale, who needed a brief moment to recover after being knocked in the back by a member of the Ewyas Harold back-line.

Curt Williams managed to recover the ball on the near wing as his pass to Tyndale resulted in a long ball from the regular New Street defender being nodded clear of Ben Febery by the home right-back in front of him in the box, before an excellent sliding challenge from the same Febery sibling on the near wing gave a throw-in to the opposition which was nodded back via a succession of headers from his older brother and Curt Williams.

A Ewyas Harold free kick on the half-hour mark from the far wing landed straight into the gloves of Loader, before a home defender deflected the ball just shy of the near post back across field as the resulting 40thminute corner ball from Ben Febery was squandered by being struck over the woodwork.

George Walker was flagged offside by the opposing linesman as the visitors raced away on the break following a corner ball which similarly failed to provide Ewyas Harold with a first mark on the scoresheet, as did another Curt Williams corner set-piece which saw Tom Trigg nod the ball the wrong way in the box before Ben Febery raced in to blast the ball over.

A final challenge from James Febery before the first period was out saw his home target player requiring treatment on the pitch, with referee Joshua Marchant requesting that he leave the field with a suspected head injury even if the stricken orange-shirted player chose to continue playing up to the half-time whistle.

An early Ledbury second half chance saw Boyle break through the opposing defence, only for the Ewyas Harold keeper to block the ball with his feet, before a further Town corner saw Tyndale powerfully strike the ball across the goalmouth as the hosts were then flagged offside by Pete Jeynes on linesman duties for Merrick’s side.

The visitors finally broke the deadlock on the 50thminute, when a great cross from Curt Williams allowed James Febery to nod the ball home, with this opener appearing to open the floodgates for a tidal wave of Ledbury goals as Curt Williams provided a further fine assist to enable Chris Wickham to fire home a real thunderbolt, nearly breaking the back of the net in the process for his first goal of the season.

James Febery completed his brace in the space of five minutes, before his younger sibling went one-on-one with the opposing goaltender, passing the ball to Boyle on his right to provide an easy finish for the prolific Town striker and suddenly put the visitors 4-0 up just twelve minutes from the restart.

Ledbury captain Matt Rooke, Wickham, Walker and Curt Williams were all exchanged for Lewis Williams, Alistair Holder, Sam Branch and Nathan Ince respectively over the course of the next eight minutes as Merrick took full advantage of his side’s huge newfound lead to let his well-staffed subs bench loose on the game, as a further Town corner ball saw Ben Febery and Tyndale being denied by a besieged Ewyas Harold keeper in amongst a scramble for the ball in the box.

The visitors made a first substitution as twenty minutes remained for them to scale the near-impossible mountain of a four-goal comeback, with Loader cleanly catching a header from the hosts at the far post only for the Welsh border outfit to find what was to be their sole consolation goal of the afternoon.

The Ewyas Harold keeper managed to clear the ball away from Ince rapidly closing in behind him as the hosts put the ball over the frame back across field, and after the orange shirts made their second and final change of personnel, Boyle ran down the far wing to chip the ball in for the visitors’ fifth goal scored seven minutes from time.

A final Ince effort flew across the front of goal as Ben Febery missed a chance on the line to make it six, before a final free kick from the younger of the Febery siblings bounced just shy of the far post as his side went on to celebrate a morale-boosting second consecutive away victory, hot on the heels of the important 2-1 win against Clee Hill United at the Knowle Sports Ground achieved a fortnight ago, when a Ben Febery brace secured the win against a consolatory goal for the hosts scored by Steven Preece.

Top-of-the-league Ledbury, now two points clear of Hartpury University, Hereford Pegasus Reserves and Hereford Lads Club Reserves all on eighteen points apiece although with Pegasus retaining a game in hand and Hartpury holding a crucial three-game advantage, face two further away league games to end 2021 with a visit to Wellington Rangers on Saturday 4thDecember, followed by a trip to the Ludlow Stadium to face current fifth place holders Ludlow Town Colts a fortnight afterwards (both games KO 2:00pm).

Before this takes place however, Merrick’s men will aim to take the next step on the road to a second consecutive Herefordshire FA Charity Bowl final, two years after they acquired this particular piece of silverware with a memorable 3-2 victory over Holme Lacy at Westfields’ allpay.park venue in April 2019 when an 81stminute winner from substitute player Charlie Docherty secured the win, by making the lengthy trip to face league basement boys Shobdon in the quarter-finals this coming weekend (KO 1:30pm).

This will be the first visit to the league’s airfield-based venue this season for Town after their scheduled opening game of the season was postponed at the start of September on account of no referee being available, reaching this second stage of the competition through a confident 4-0 victory over none other than the Charity Bowl runners-up the last time the contest was played out in its entirety pre-Covid.

Boyle struck first against Holme Lacy, with Ben Miller and joint Ledbury man of the match Ince, sharing the accolade with Tyndale that evening, going on to score within seven minutes of each other before the first period was out as Josh Burns found a fourth twelve minutes into the latter half of play.