LEDBURY suffered an 11th defeat of the season as they continued their Regional 2 Midlands West League relegation fight with a 28-7 defeat at Ludlow.
Both sides were guilty of inaccuracy and unable to capitalise on field positions and platforms to strike from.
Ledbury blinked first when an inaccurate exit was judged to have involved crossing and Ludlow had a shot at goal, 25m out, between the sticks. The kick was well-struck and Ludlow took the lead 3-0.
Ludlow were judged to be too eager to get the ball back and Ledbury had a shot at goal, similar to the Ludlow effort five minutes beforehand.
Iolo Bubb stepped up for what would usually be a formality for him, but his plant foot found soft ground and he hooked it wide.
More inaccuracy from both sides meant plenty of stop-start and not one side emerging a clear favourite, until another penalty in a similar position was awarded to Ludlow and the same result followed, 6-0 to the home side, which is how it remained the break.
Ledbury struck and took the lead early in the second half with Bubb going through the gap, juggling and converting his own try to make it 6-7 after around 15 minutes of the second half.
Ludlow responded and from a visitors lineout the pass was intercepted and the defensive line set for attack was quickly having to defend.
Ludlow moved the ball wide to the open side then back again and Zak Bonfield was judged to have deliberately knocked on, earning a yellow card and another penalty for Ludlow around the 22-metre mark. As before, Ludlow took the points (9-7).
Knowing Ledbury were a man down on their right-hand side, Ludlow exploited the space with a cross-field kick.
The bounce was fortuitous, bouncing away from Bubb who was covering and straight into the arms of the Ludlow wing who had an easy run-in under the sticks and providing an easier conversion to stretch their lead to nine points.
Neither side looked to take control up until a Ledbury knock-on gave the home side a scrum around 2 -metres from their own line.
A man down out wide, Ledbury drifted early from the channel, leaving a gift of a gap for Ludlow, who took the opportunity well, going on to step the Ledbury blind side wing and run in an 80-metre score under the sticks to go 23-7 ahead.
Ledbury fought hard to get field position and Ludlow infringed once more to give their hosts another 22 entry.
The resultant lineout was positive for the visitors and a couple of strong carries had Ludlow scrambling once more and Ed Wallin was halted just two metres out.
Standing back up Wallin dived over the line, but the official judged him to have been held and not released.
Ludlow had another 22 entry before the conclusion, played out the back and got the ball wide to score in the corner once more, this time unconverted to finish 28-7.
