IN a match that went down to the wire, Ledbury won with the very last kick of the game.

PERSHORE 3rds 23pts, LEDBURY 3rds 25pts

It was a tremendously tense encounter in which the lead changed hands a number of times before the final whistle.

Ledbury, looking to bounce back from their defeat last week, started the game in top gear. Good pressure resulted in a penalty 25 yards out which was well kicked by Blandford. From the kick-off Ledbury ran the ball back at Pershore and a text book move by the Ledbury back line culminated in outside centre Charl Steynberg cutting through the defence to score the first of Ledbury's three tries.

This seemed to wake Pershore up and they gradually got back into the game. Some fairly average tackling and some interesting refereeing decisions disrupted Ledbury's play and gave Pershore the ascendancy. Injuries to captain Olly Scholefield and flanker Rob Smith midway through the first half forced some reshuffling.

Pershore utilised their opportunities during this period scoring a try, drop goal and penalty to put them into the lead 11-10 at half time.

Stand in captain Rhid Jones and pack leader Dave Baulch steadied the ship with their half time team talk and Ledbury started the second half, much like the first, piling on the pressure.

Good work by the forwards allowed veteran scrum half Jones to snipe over from two yards to score a converted try and put Ledbury back into the lead.

Unfortunately backchat to the referee and some ill-discipline gifted Pershore two penalties which brought the game level at 17-all.

Man of the match Gareth Watkins then picked up the ball in loose play deep inside his own half, beat a number of Pershore tacklers to run through and score under the posts. Unfortunately, despite the conversion going over, the referee deemed that too much time had been taken on the kick and disallowed it.

Again Ledbury failed to consolidate on their lead and Pershore got their noses back in front with two more penalties. With only seconds to go Ledbury were awarded a penalty for Pershore handling on the floor in a ruck. Fly half Toby Blandford stepped up and coolly slotted the kick home from 30 yards out to give Ledbury a very well earned victory 25-23.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Ledbury are away at Brockworth, meet 12.45pm.