LEDBURY slipped to a fourth defeat in five games, at the hands of local rivals Bromyard Town.
Hattricks from both Matt Patrick-Rivers and Ben Cowlishaw saw Bromyard ease past Ledbury 9-2, extending their winning run to 11 games, moving 15 points clear at the top of the Herefordshire Premier Division.
It was another disappointing performance from Ian Merrick’s side, who were without several key players, with the only real positive being Ryan Dobbins’ superbly taken brace — though it really should have been a hattrick for the forward.
Bromyard took the lead after just 11 minutes. A through ball in behind exposed the gaps in Ledbury’s defence, with Ben Cowlishaw outpacing Kane Bruton and finishing low into the bottom-left corner.
Ledbury struggled to threaten during the first half, with Bromyard controlling the midfield and forcing the visitors to play deep inside their own half.
That pressure told as Jamie Wall’s side added two more goals in quick succession — Cowlishaw poked the ball around Oscar Bignell to tap into an empty net, before Matt Patrick-Rivers put Bromyard firmly in control moments later, sliding the ball under the onrushing keeper after being found by Ollie Taylor-Bradley.
The Cowlishaw–Patrick-Rivers partnership continued to devastate Ledbury’s defence, with Patrick-Rivers guiding the ball into the top corner from Cowlishaw’s cross to make it four goals inside 30 minutes.
Minutes later, Bromyard added a fifth as the two Ollies combined, with Thompson finding an unmarked Taylor-Bradley at the far post for a simple tap-in.
Ledbury’s only moment of quality before half-time came when Dobbins produced some exquisite footwork inside the area, sat his defender down, and chipped the ball delicately into the far corner, beyond the reach of Ryan Williams.
Bromyard went into the break with a commanding lead, and the second half continued in a similar vein.
Just six minutes after the restart, Bromyard restored their five-goal cushion courtesy of a Thompson strike following a Louis Humphries corner that was only partially cleared, again exposing Ledbury’s defensive frailties.
Wall’s side showed no signs of letting up, adding a seventh shortly after as Thompson found Patrick-Rivers inside the box for a simple tap-in, completing his hat-trick.
Ledbury did show some resistance later in the half, with Dobbins scoring his second after Joe Thomas picked him out inside the six-yard box during one of the visitors’ few moments of quality.
But it was too little, too late, as Bromyard added another when Joe Hurdman finished off a quickly taken Ryan Derrick free-kick that caught Ledbury’s defence off guard.
Cowlishaw then capped off a brilliant individual display, firing home from Hurdman’s pass in the middle of the penalty area to complete the scoring and seal a dominant derby win for the Yard.
Ledbury drop to sixth in the league, and their next match will be at home to Worcester United on Saturday, January 10, where they will hope to bounce back after a testing few months.
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