Greyhound 0 pts Ledbury 34 pts

LEDBURY won this afternoon’s Herefordshire derby in the North Midlands Vase after opening up a 24-0 interval advantage at the Racecourse.

Greyhound battled hard throughout this second-round tie – in their best performance so far this season.

Greyhound should take confidence from the afternoon - their heads did not drop at any stage.

But Ledbury were comfortable winners at the final whistle after scoring five tries in a hard-working display.

Greyhound started off strongly and put pressure on the Ledbury line in an error-strewn opening 10 minutes in which both sides were penalised at set-pieces.

Ali Park missed a 13th-minute penalty for Ledbury before Greyhound’s powerful forward Mark Austin was yellow-carded for a late tackle in the 24th minute.

Park opened the scoring from the resulting penalty and Ledbury made the most of their one-man advantage to score a further 14 points while Austin was off the field.

Ledbury skipper Jock Welch dived over for the first try in the 31st minute and Park slotted the conversion to put the visitors 10-0 in front.

Ledbury coach Paul Rudland set up his side’s second try three minutes later when he broke from deep and slipped the ball to winger Lucas Ashworth who touched down.

Park kicked the conversion to give Ledbury a 17-0 lead and then the visitors scored their third try.

Richard Bromage’s pass was intercepted by Edgar Dingle on the right touchline and he slipped the ball to James Rayfield who cut inside to score. Park kicked the conversion.

Greyhound player-coach Patrick Hill missed a 23-metre penalty and Paul Hollingsworth and Austin were both tackled inches short of the Ledbury line.

Ledbury stretched their lead to 29 points in the 50th minute after Welch crashed over from close range for his second try of the afternoon.

Greyhound refused to give up and continued to battle hard with Jamie Gibbons, Austin, Rob Gummer and Lee Simpson all putting in plenty of effort.

The Hereford club showed some neat touches but their final pass was often miss-placed when they needed to remain composed.

Greyhound lost Elliot Phillips through a nasty-looking injury in the 69th minute before Ledbury had the final word with their fifth try in the dying minutes.

Full-back James Bourton-Pierre surged 30 metres to score in the corner to put Ledbury 34-0 in front.

To their credit, Greyhound hit back and the hosts were twice held up on the Ledbury line before the final whistle.

Greyhound: Weaver, Hollingsworth, Phillips, Hill, Manning, Richard Bromage, Chris Morris; Wargen, Gummer, Murphy, Bakes, Austin, Spillane, Gibbons, Simpson. Replacements: Dave Bromage, Callaghan, Braithwaite.

Ledbury: Bourton-Pierre, Ashworth, Park, Rayfield, Nolan, Adams, Rudland; Welch, Dingle, Panter, Rollings, English, Nicholson, Hicks, Scholefield.

Tries: Ledbury: Welch, 31, 50; Ashworth, 34; Rayfield, 40; Bourton-Pierre, 80.

Conversions: Ledbury: Park, 31, 34, 40.

Penalties: Ledbury: Park, 25.

Yellow card: Greyhound: Austin, 24.

For pictures and reaction from this game, read the Big Match feature in the Hereford Times next Thursday.