LUDLOW’S rugby players hauled themselves back into the promotion picture in Midlands Two West (North) – but have been warned not to rest on their laurels as they gear up for a tricky derby showdown this weekend.
The Linney men pulled off a superb 25-21 victory at high-flying Aston Old Edwardians last Saturday, their best performance of the season so far. They had to come from behind to record a win that cuts the gap to two points on last weekend’s hosts – keeping Ludlow in the hunt for a second placed finish and a crack at the end-of-season promotion play-off.
But visitors Bridgnorth, who are looking to impress a new coach, lie in wait for what is a potentially tricky county derby tomorrow.
“It was a big result for us to beat Aston and I’d say it was our best performance of the season,” said spokesman Phil Norton. “But having got such a good win to keep us challenging for second place, we have to make sure we follow it up with another good performance tomorrow when we take on Bridgnorth, which will be another tough game for us.”
Norton was delighted with last week’s win, only the second defeat that Aston have suffered this season. “Had we lost, we would have been six points behind them and struggling to get back in contention. But as it is we are now breathing down their necks,” Norton added.
“It was a really good win because it is not an easy place to go as their pitch is on a slope which they know how to play on. But the whole team played well, the forwards did well up front and, while Aston defended well close in, we managed to get the ball out wide and stretched them.”
Ludlow will be hoping to have a similar line-up at their disposal tomorrow, but must wait on debutant flanker Ollie James who suffered a head injury last week.
The south Shropshire men had to do it the hard way at Aston, trailing 14-10 at half time despite a Joe Doyle try converted by Will Norton, who also successfully kicked a penalty.
They also had to cope with the loss of flanker James who, on his return to the club, had to go off with concussion after a 20th minute clash of heads with team-mate Ed McFarlane.
Yet they enjoyed a terrific second half, surging ahead with a Norton penalty followed by tries for Tom Waters and Nick Morris, one converted by Norton.
The hosts managed to close the gap with a converted try of their own, but Ludlow saw out the final 10 minutes with few alarms to remain very much in the promotion hunt.
