Droitwich 37 - Ledbury 12

Saturday 15th March 2008

Droitwich played their North Midlands Shield match against Ledbury under floodlights on Friday night, at the Memorial Ground and turned in a much improved performance than in recent weeks. It was also good to see the Spa side field a very young side and give some squad players a start.

The game started at a brisk pace with Matt Blackmore giving a lovely pass to Ross Coombes who burst through the defence to go on a blistering forty metre run to feed fellow centre Sean Walker to score.

Blackmore was again the creative force as his neatly weighted kick caused panic in the home defence for Walker to bag his second.

The Droitwich pack applied pressure on Ledbury with Nick Godfrey and fellow veteran Jon Andrews enjoying excellent matches, although young back row forward Andy Manns played a majestic supporting role.

Good approach work allowed James Protherough to dive over. Shortly after Walker intercepted to gallop home for his hat-trick.

Ledbury hit back and pressured the Spa line, but excellent defence held them at bay, but Blackmore took a nasty blow and had to be replaced by Craig Burgess.

As the interval loomed Matt Jupp thundered forward, well supported by Harry Riley, to feed James Shewell to score Droitwich’s fifth try.

The second period saw Ledbury come back strongly to score two fine tries to close the gap, but this seemed to spur Droitwich to go up a gear. Good handling by Dean Goddard found the irrepressible Protherough in support to go over for his second. As the game neared its close Stevie Poke darted over for a typical try.

A satisfying win for Droitwich which sees their impressive season continue. Captain Goddard added “It was great to give a few of the younger lads a go, as well as the novelty of a game under lights. We will be focusing strongly on this competition.”

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