Herefordshire Schools 2 Blaenau Gwent 1 After extra time

HEREFORDSHIRE u15s were made to work extremely hard to overcome a determined Blaenau Gwent team at Ledbury Town’s ground before moving into the fourth round of the ESFA Play Station U15 Trophy.

The home side’s neat possession football created a number of early chances but fine goal keeping and last -ditch defending denied the home side a goal before, against the run of play, a precision pass split the home defence and a good finish gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Herefordshire responded positively and eventually Gregg Preece (Kingstone) fired home a fierce shot to deservedly level the score.

In the lead-up to half-time, Herefordshire midfielders Wilf Munn (Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School) and Tom Nunn (Whitecross) were dominant yet the home side could not add to their score.

In a more even second half, the home county were forced to defend for longer periods of time but coped well under pressure with Earl Mortimer College full-back pairing Ben Hardman and Dan Pugh impressing with their timely tackling and excellent distribution.

In the first half of extra time Herefordshire started to dominate and just before the end of the period, James Hancocks (Bishop's) finished clinically to give the home side the lead.

After this, the tiring Blaenau Gwent side were unable to reply and Herefordshire played sensible football to ensure a place in the next round.