LEDBURY Town’s recent woes continued as they dropped to eighth place in Division One of the West Midlands Regional League following a heavy 6-2 defeat against third-placed Haughmond at their Shrewsburybased venue.

The defeat followed hot on the heels of Ledbury crashing out in the first round of the Worcester Infirmary Senior Cup with a 4-1 loss to Premier Division side Bewdley Town, as well as the shock 2-1 home loss to division basement boys St Martin.

Tom Boyle and Pat Locke were both on target for Paul Mann’s side against Haughmond, but the New Street side have slumped down the table ahead of tomorrow’s league trip to high-flying Gornal Athletic Reserves (3pm).

The Gornal clash is the first of three consecutive away fixtures and the New Street outfit will need to improve on their current form if they are to recover from the trio of league defeats.

The match against Bewdley in the Senior Cup started promisingly for the hosts with prolific striker Jamie Welch netting on 16 minutes.

However, the mid-table West Midlands Regional League Premier Division side soon took control of proceedings by playing some pacy football.

In fact, it was only through another terrific display of goalkeeping from Ledbury’s promising 17-year-old stopper Elliot Watts that Bewdley were prevented from bagging at least another two or three goals during the first period of play.

However, the young custodian was caught off his line by Dan Gittens and the Bewdley fans were able to celebrate their team’s equaliser moments before the half-time whistle.

After the break, Richards put his side ahead for the first time, drilling the ball home in the 60th minute.

Neil Gardiner was given an opportunity to draw the hosts level again following a goalkeeping error from Simon Dye, but the Bewdley stopper was able to recover in time to make the save.

Watts pulled off another fine save to keep out a freekick from Rudd, before Lee Williamson earned his reward after being industrious throughout as he fired home Bewdley’s third goal.

Then the Bewdley man grabbed his second just before the final whistle.