PLAYER-BOSS Stuart Corns knows his Ludlow Town side need to start turning performances into points to boost their fortunes in the West Midland League premier division – beginning with tomorrow’s home clash with struggling Bromyard Town.
Despite some creditable displays, the SBS Stadium side have now won just once in 13 games following last weekend’s narrow 2-1 loss to Oldbury Athletic in what was their first league action of the year. But Corns remains upbeat, insisting his side have what it takes to go on a run and cement a place among the leading sides in the top flight.
“We did not deserve to lose to Oldbury, but a couple of mistakes cost us,” he said. “We also did well against AFC Wulfrunians the week before in the league cup, it was another game we could have won. We played well in those games against two of the top sides, and showed we’re not far away.
“But we’ve now got a decent run of games coming up against teams below us in the table, starting with Bromyard on Saturday, and if we play anything like we have done in our last two games then I’m confident we can pick up points.
“With the players we’ve got, we’re capable of going on a good run and now’s the time for us to show that in the next few weeks.”
Despite last Saturday’s loss, Ludlow remain in eighth spot and confident they can turn things around with more resources at their disposal this weekend.
“Although we only had 11 against Oldbury, we now have enough players to ensure we can put out a strong side for every game,” added Corns, who was hindered by the unavoidable loss of both Dean Richards and Matty Elsmore last Saturday.
The south Shropshire side, however, included their prolific former striker Nathan Hodge who made the dash from his Leintwardine Colts cup game with Woofferton earlier in the afternoon to help out the Knights along with his brother Aaron.
“Nathan helped us out last Saturday, he played 35 minutes and we had a good chat after the game,” said Corns. “He’s happy to play for us when he hasn’t got a game with Leintwardine, which is good news for us.”
Corns is banking on having several more selection options tomorrow, although he is forced into a goalkeeping change with Anthony Prince unavailable.
In comes Jack Cooper, who was formerly with the Cardiff City academy.
Despite their limited action since the new year, Ludlow started well against Oldbury and had an early chance when the ball fell to player-boss Corns only to see his shot blocked. The hosts looked comfortable but fell behind on 37 minutes through a headed goal when a cross from the left wasn’t dealt with by Prince.
Crucial
In the second half, Ludlow battled well and carved half chances with Aaron Hodge hitting the side netting and Corns shooting just wide. Oldbury were limited to shooting from long range but when they did get behind Ludlow’s defence they caused problems, and bagged a crucial second goal four minutes from time following another defensive slip.
Ludlow kept battling and straight from the kick-off pulled a goal back when, following a break down the left, Gareth Hamer found the net after a cross from Ben McAuley – but it was all too late to deny their visitors the spoils.
After taking on Bromyard tomorrow, Ludlow will be looking for more points against another side in the bottom half of the table when they entertain Bewdley next Wednesday.
