THERE was a sour taste left in the mouth for Ledbury as their season ended in defeat at a Broadstreet 2 side who fielded 12 of their first team players.

The visitors were informed upon their arrival to the ground that the home team were intending to field 12 of their first-team squad in the match, despite those players playing two levels above.

Despite the obvious gulf in class on paper, Ledbury battled well early on and kept Broadstreet out for the opening 20 minutes before finally their defence was breached and Broadstreet opened the scoring with a converted try.

Ledbury responded well and a string of penalties deep in the Broadstreet half saw them come within metres of the try-line but some strong defence and a quick turnover on the half-hour mark ended with the home side going the length to make it 14-0. 

It stayed that way going into the second-half but a third try came five minutes after the restart from the hosts as they started to pull clear.

But the visitors would not be deterred and they finally managed a try of their own as Arron Almond forced his way over the line for a try that Dan Smith converted. 

With the bit between their teeth Ledbury then scored another try with Lewis Ballinger going over on 63 minutes and at 21-12, the away side sensed an unlikely victory. 

But using their quality and power, Broadstreet scored two tries in quick succession to snuff out any chance of a comeback and the game ended 33-12. 

Regardless of the game, it will go down as a successful season for Ledbury, who finish the 2022/23 campaign in fourth place. 

They now have a two-week break before the start of the North Midlands Shield Competition, where they willl play Bromyard and Ross-on-Wye prior to the knockout-stages.