Boss Chris Richards was a satisfied man after his Ludlow Town side showed their capabilities with a return to winning form in the West Midland League premier division.
Three hefty defeats, with 14 goals conceded, threatened to put the skids under the SBS Stadium men in the closing stages of the campaign.
But they bounced back with a timely 2-0 success at mid-table rivals Tividale Town and now embark on tomorrow’s last day encounter at home to Lye Town in good spirits.
“I was annoyed more than anything with our previous performances as I knew we had the quality but did not apply ourselves on the field,” said Richards.
“It was more or less the same side, apart from a couple of changes, but it was a vast improvement. “Some of the players had lost focus over the last few weeks, but when they do apply themselves, they can play good football. We got back to what we were doing well earlier in the season.”
The return in midfield of Liam Turner following illness proved a timely boost as Ludlow looked far more assured and combative.
“Liam may not be the biggest of players but he doesn’t give the ball away cheaply, which is something we’ve been lacking in the last few weeks,” added Richards.
“Although we conceded a lot of goals in our last few games, it wasn’t down to poor defending but the fact we were giving the ball away further up the field.
“But the performance was a lot more as it should be. I was pleased with the way we defended all over the field.”
With the wind at their backs in the first half, Ludlow started solidly and looked confident in possession as they aimed to shrug off their 6-1 battering at Brierley and Withymoor in their previous outing.
They made the home keeper work with Marcus Sharrad and Dan Tolley putting some testing crosses into the box.
Ludlow got their deserved breakthrough after the interval when Jack Keating’s strike was parried by the keeper and Andy Pugh lashed home the rebound.
With keeper Ricky Lee Marsden in solid form in goal, Tividale rarely looked likely to get back on terms.
And the points were effectively wrapped up when Keating laid a pass across the edge of the box and Tolley marked a hard-working display by powering his shot into the net.
l Ludlow Reserves saw their midweek County League premier division relegation showdown with Hopesgate postponed due to problems with one of the lighting columns at the SBS Stadium.
The game has been rearranged for Wednesday.
