LEDBURY continued their winning run in the Counties 1 Midlands West (South) League with a 19-24 away victory at Old Leamingtonians.

The contest was anticipated to be a close one and from the outset both sides showed intent to put the ball through the hand.

The first break came from Rob Gummer making a storming run from halfway to see Cody Richardson-Wall held up, but continued pressure soon saw Tom Assal smash his way over from close range for a try which Jamie Rayfield duly converted from out wide (0-7).

Ledbury continued to dominate but their kicking handed possession to Old Leamingtonian and gave the home side the opportunity to run the ball back. From a 10-minute period of pressure centre Alex Witchell crashed over to score for Old Leamingtonians (5-7).

Ledbury responded with a great spell - forwards and backs combining with Ed Bennion prominent in gaining ground and Charlie Barber-Starkey was ultimately able to career his way over for a try, again converted by Rayfield (5-14).

Old Leamingtonians refused to lie down and continued to batter Ledbury in their own 22, with penalty after penalty conceded until No 8  Callum Goss touched down to bring the score back to two points (12-14).

In response Ledbury exerted some resilient forward pressure allowing Iolo Bubb to wriggle his way over for an important score just shy of half time (12-19).

Ledbury began the second half well and from a scrummage on the Old Leamingtonians 22, Bubb launched a huge pass to Josh Bishop who scored acrobatically in the corner (12-24).

The visitors nearly scored again, but a poor pass was intercepted and it was only the dogged pace of Jonny Whitting that prevented a certain try after running the length of the pitch.

Old Leamingtonians were not long in responding - after a prolonged attack their prop found the Ledbury defence wanting, to smash his way over from close range (19-24).

All too close for comfort the final 15 minutes of the match were nail biting for the visiting supporters, with Old Leamingtonians threatening inceasingly in an attempt to snatch victory.

However, a resilient Ledbury kept them at bay to record a fine away victory against arguably their most challenging opponents this season. The return match in January is already being built up to be an unmissable clash.

The scrappy match left the Ledbury coaches reflected on many areas to improve on, albeit with some flashes of inspiration at times.

Ledbury have had a week to recover from the away victory and take on Alcester this Saturday at home which is also the first VP lunch of the season.