Ledbury 36 pts Old Wheatleyans 12

LIAM Herbert bagged a brace as title-chasing Ledbury took pole position after a superb display in this afternoon’s (Saturday) Midlands 4 West (South) top-of-the-table clash at Ross Road.

Ledbury have leapfrogged Old Wheatleyans into top spot and inflicted the only two league defeats this season suffered by the Coventry club.

There were some happy faces on the pitch and on the sidelines as the Herefordshire side thoroughly deserved their 11th league victory after running in five tries.

Ledbury had the match wrapped up by the interval after romping into a 24-7 advantage after punishing mistakes from the visitors, whose handling let them down in the first half.

Ledbury skipper Jock Welch: “It was pretty tough but, hopefully, promotion might be secured. Hopefully, a few more wins will sort that out. It was our best performance of the season and the boys really turned it on against a side who had been one point ahead of us in the table.”

The hosts made a blistering start and Paul Williams burst over for their first try in the ninth minute after a drive from a line-out had been stopped just short of the line.

Ben Smith kicked the conversion and Ledbury doubled their advantage in the 21st minute, the lively James Rayfield running through to score.

Smith slotted the conversion and, with the hosts in control, he successfully kicked a penalty in the 30th minute to give Ledbury a 17-0 lead.

It got even better for the home fans when the powerful Herbert, the ex-Hereford player, crossed the whitewash in the dying minutes of the first period.

Herbert appeared to pick the pocket of the visiting scrum-half about 50 metres out before running through. Smith landed the conversion.

Ledbury were playing with confidence and power but the Old Whealeyans, to their credit, had the final word on the stroke of half time.

Ross Harrison made the most of space down the right-hand touchline and broke several tackles to score a fine try under the posts and Rich Lowe kicked the conversion.

The next try was always going to prove crucial and Chris Smith got it for Ledbury 10 minutes into the second period.

Ian Critchley appeared to drop the ball in midfield and Chris Smith swooped to pick up and ran half the length of the pitch to touch down. Ben Smith added the simple conversion.

Joel Skyers received treatment to a shoulder injury, which held up play for several minutes, and the Coventry outfit responded when play resumed.

The visitors grabbed their second try of the afternoon in the 61st minute, Number 8 Ben Craig bulldozing his way through after they had won two quick-fire penalties in the home 22.

However, Ledbury finished strongly and completed the scoring with 15 minutes remaining.

Herbert , who played well throughout, squeezed over in the left-hand corner to round off an excellent afternoon for Ledbury.

Captain of Old Wheats Paul Wright said: “We are disappointed as a team that we didn’t turn up today but testament to Ledbury for doing the double over us. We wish them the best for the rest of the season.”

To read tweets from today's game, follow the Hereford Times on twitter via htnewsroom or see the Hereford Times Facebook page.

For pictures and post-match reaction, see the full-page Big Match feature in Thursday’s Hereford Times.

For video interviews with the likes of Steve Burgess, Jock Welch and Paul Rudland as well as video clips from the match itself, visit herefordtimes.com on Tuesday afternoon/Wednesday.

Ledbury: George Bennion, Chris Smith, Ben Smith, Joel Skyers, James Rayfield, Jack Lambert-Taylor, Nick Panniers; Joe Hill, Andrew Mcawy, Jock Welch, Matt Cleland, Paul Williams, Ali Day, Liam Herbert, Tom Dines. Replacements: Paul Rudland, Tim Nolan, Aaron Almond, Mike Bellamy.

Old Wheatleyans: Ross Harrison, Ben Weaver, Rob Thomason, Joe Loach, Josh White, Rich Thomas, Rich Lowe; Pete Mills, Will Thornhill, Dom Watson, Ross Lacey, Andy Thomason, Paul Wright, Ian Critchley, Ben Craig. Replacements: Joe Bristow, Rob McGowan, Rich Davies, Jack Langley.

Referee: Dave Meek (Gloucester and District).

Yellow cards: None.