Leek 5 pts Ludlow 7

LUDLOW stretched their unbeaten Midlands Four West (North) run to nine matches with a rare win at Leek, a victory which consolidated their challenging third spot in the league table.

With a light covering of snow on a very heavy pitch, this was always going to be a tough forward battle. Leek won the toss and elected to play down the considerable slope, an advantage they used well to put Ludlow under early pressure.

Penalty

The visitors were well organised and kept Leek at bay until mid-way through the half when a quickly-taken penalty caught the visitors napping with the home scrum-half stealing over wide out for an unconverted try.

Still under considerable pressure, Ludlow conceded a couple of penalties, but with underfoot conditions difficult the Leek kicker could not find the target. Ludlow did not panic and after the break it was their turn to enjoy the benefit of the sloping pitch, with fly-half Mark Williams kicking astutely for position and the visiting forwards stepping up a gear.

The pressure paid off and Ludlow got back on terms when good line-out possession and a series of rolling mauls took play to the Leek line. When the home pack deliberately dropped the driving maul, the referee sensibly allowed Ludlow the benefit of advantage, with young scrum-half Will Norton spotting a gap to dive over for a touchdown to put his team back on terms.

Williams, who had also experienced difficulty with his penalty attempts, landed what proved to be the decisive conversion.