Ledbury Rugby Club's relegation battle against basement club Droitwich was brought to an abrupt end when the match referee was knocked out with just under ten minutes to play.

DROITWICH 10PTS, LEDBURY 7PTS

(Match abandoned after 73 minutes)

Official Mike Vaughan, from Halesowen, suffered concussion when he was hit on the side of the head by the ball following a kick from the Droitwich scrum-half Craig Burgess.

With the referee unable to continue due to his condition the Midlands Three West (South) game, which was a crucial fixture for both sides, was called to a halt with seven minutes plus injury time still outstanding on the clock.

Although a standard RFU ruling is that the score stands if over 60 minutes of the game has been played the crucial nature of the game may have to be taken into consideration by the governing body before a ruling is given.

The Ledbury management view is that the game should be replayed due to its vital nature and the closeness of the scores with several minutes to play.

Ledbury secretary Jill Matthew was still waiting to speak to the referee to gauge his opinion of the state of the game at the closing point

There was an official from Droitwich who who could have taken over the whistle but the Ledbury side felt that in the circumstances it would be unfair.

Ledbury had opened the scoring in this hard-fought and physical game with a try through Ollie Kaye in the opening minutes, well converted by Barrett Price from a narrow angle for a 7-0 lead.

Droitwich hit back midway through the half when Jamie Faulkener cut in from the wing and scored under the posts, leaving Andy Gallagher a simple conversion to level the scores.

Before half-time Gallagher landed a penalty to put the home side 10-7 up.

Scoring opportunities had been limited in the second half but Ledbury had come close to levelling the scores when full-back Barrett Price struck the upright with a penalty midway through the half, the ball rebounding back into play to be cleared.