The Mowdog On The Road...: ALCESTER TOWN 4-1 LEDBURY TOWN: THE MOWDOG'S INDEPENDENT REPORT + 18 SCREENSHOTS OF THE ACTION...

Romans Fire Four, As Ledbury Toil On The Stratford Road…

Alcester Town 4-1 Ledbury Town

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

A sunny afternoon, if breezy along the Stratford Road and despite a plucky performance by Ledbury, Alcester largely dominated the fixture and were denied by the goal-frame three times before the recess.

A Chris Dyson thump bounced from the horizontal bar, an Adam Garmson free-kick from downtown was deflected by Ledbury’s Lewis Tolley onto the right post, then Garmson swung a left boot at a loose ball from 18 yards and struck the crossbeam.

GARMSON'S SHOT WOULD STRIKE THE BAR...

A DEFLECTION TAKES GARMSON'S FREE-KICK ONTO A POST...

DYSON SMASHES A SHOT ONTO THE CROSSBAR...

In truth, the visitors lost two players to early injuries and the skipper Joel Skyers was sin-binned too, yet the guests nearly scored in the opening moments and how differently the match might subsequently have panned out had they netted then…

A right-side centre somehow drifted past players in the 6 yard box, causing home goalie Lewis Crockford to dive and maybe get a touch to the ball, which was cleverly stopped on his goal-line by the calm actions of Alcester winger George Davis.

DAVIS GETS BACK...

...TO DEFEND HIS OWN GOAL-LINE...

The second period promised a more competitive 45 minutes when Ledbury (are they still nicknamed the Friesians?) pulled a quick goal back through their tall number 10, Harrison Creed but that was quickly nullified by Adam Bourn’s low strike and the encounter went downhill from then. Only another low shot by Creed caused any further danger for the Romans, which Crockford saved smartly down to his right.

CROCKFORD SAVES LOW FROM CREED...

Substitutions were many, the interruptions certainly didn't help the game’s flow but at least the very tall Friesian ‘keeper Kieran Derbyshire (from Herefordshire?) made several saves to make his afternoon a little more bearable.

Garmson’s influence…

The striker strolled through the match, scoring twice in the first-half, as well as forcing a boot-save from Derbyshire and as described above, testing the goal-frame twice.

After Dyson’s blast had rapped the bar, he opened the scoring with a scrambled effort from a Garmson set-piece, when the striker’s delivery from the right bounced unluckily off the body of Skyers for the Romans’ midfielder to convert from 2 yards, albeit under pressure.

A SCRAMBLE...

...& DYSON NETS FOR 1-0...

Garmson added goal two from a George Davis centre, also on the right, releasing a surprisingly simple downward header into the net, with barely any challenge, or even the need to leap.

GARMSON, 2ND FROM LEFT, WATCHES HIS HEADER BEAT DERBYSHIRE FOR 2-0...

Garmson’s second goal was smartly created by Bourn’s excellent through-pass for Davis, whose run had been clever and incisive but with Derbyshire stranded so far off his goal-line, nearly in Staffordshire in fact, the Roman slipped the ball left to Garmson. The striker’s side-footed 18 yarder towards an empty net saw Derbyshire attempt to retreat but sadly for him, the ball took a deflection past him off defender Tolley.

DAVIS FEEDS THE BALL LEFT...

...FOR GARMSON TO CONVERT A DEFLECTED SHOT...

...& IT'S 3-0...

Late in the match, Garmson would be denied a hat-trick when Derbyshire plunged left to push away the forward’s free-kick from distance.

Davis, Bourne and Dyson…

Along with the tetchy, neat in possession, grafting Luke Dugmore, nearly 52 now (not really…) the three above players regularly displayed some really creative play and Bourn would score the decisive fourth goal, following a clever rush at inside-left by Dyson, who nudged the ball inside for Bourn to dispatch past the advancing Derbyshire.

BOURNE POKES PAST DERBYSHIRE...

...FOR 4-1...

Two offside flags late in the match denied Bourn, whose relish for possession and dribbles was insatiable. Dyson (and I have to write this…) vacuumed up possession so often, whilst his tricky feet and insightful passing were a pleasure to behold. He was denied a second goal late in the match by Derbyshire’s flying save.

DERBYSHIRE BLOCKS BUT BOURN IS OFFSIDE...

DYSON'S SHOT FROM DOWNTOWN HAS BEEN WELL SAVED BY DERBYSHIRE...

Davis was pushy, physical and was effective on the right-flank for his team but when he dropped back to the left side of defence later in the contest, he produced a brilliant cameo moment. He dribbled past a number of Friesians, left standing like, well, Friesians in a field and was only denied by the fingers of Derbyshire, who tipped aside his curling right-footer.

The crazy moment…

Late in the encounter Garmson reached the right bye-line but his centre bounced off the most unfortunate Tolley at the near stick, popped up onto his own crossbar and dropped down in front of goal, where replacement Roman Henry Gibson just couldn’t get the ball over the goal-line, with Derbyshire flailing and spreading himself like a large county in front of him, allowing Friesian substitute Tom Warner to hack the ball clear.

I liked that…

The final words…

No shortage of effort by the guests but the hosts were just more effective, driven on by Dyson and the industrious Reece Daly in midfield. Bourn was always a threat and the drifting Garmson was a constant danger, well supported by the direct Davis.

Back-three Cam Crook, Tris Roberts and the experienced Drew Ricketts, whose loud, theatrical voice nearly replaced mine on the commentary on occasions, were generally in command of the Friesian attack despite some neat touches and passes by the calm, unhurried central striker Tom Boyle.

Two or three late rapid rushes by left-winger Elliot Potter raised hopes for the visitors but nothing came of them and all Ledbury could muster was that neat finish by Creed, who jumped to boot in a close range finish from a right-side set-piece by Boyle, getting between Ricketts and Daly.