THE Hodge brothers, Nathan and Aaron, have been terrorising defences in the Shropshire County Premier League this year.

The Ludlow Town hot-shots have already scored a remarkable 44 goals between them this campaign.

The Craven Arms-based boys have been instrumental in lifting Mike Seaborne’s Ludlow side to the top of the table.

Nathan heads the division’s golden boot charts with 28 goals from 12 matches.

And 20-year-old Aaron is in second spot with 16 goals.

Nathan started last term with Ludlow before joining Leintwardine Colts for the second half of the campaign.

Seaborne left Leintwardine to take over the manager’s role at Lu d l ow in th e s u m m e r a n d Nathan re-joined the Shropshire outfit.

Nathan, 21, said: “It’s always nice to score goals but the most important thing is that the team is at the top of the league.

“It’s good that we are helping the side by scoring goals and we’ve actually been setting up a lot of goals for each other.

“It’s a Ho d g e c o n n e c t i o n because our younger brother, Dale, is also playing for Ludlow and sometimes all three of us play in attack.”

Boss Seaborne said: “Nathan is most definitely capable of playing at a higher level than he is at the moment.

“When I was manager at Craven Arms I had Nathan with me - he w a s 1 6 o r 1 7 ye a r s o l d a t t h e time.

“After he left Ludlow last season a n d w a n t e d t o j o i n me a t Leintwardine, I actually questioned Nathan’s sanity.

“It wasn’t long after his trial at Shrewsbury Town but Nathan said he wasn’t settled at Ludlow and wanted to play with some of his mates.”

Nathan, who works for Network Rail, believes his dreams of becoming a professional footballer have passed him by.

He thanked his dad, Aubrey, for introducing him to football and said he would love to score more than 40 goals before the end of the season.

Seaborne added: “As a club, we are delighted to have all three of the Hodge brothers at Ludlow.”