Last-gasp Ludlow turn up heat

Ludlow put themselves in the promotion frame in Midlands 3 West (North) with a dramatic late win over Kidderminster that leaves them just two points off the top of the table.

The Linney men won 13-11 at Kidderminster, but that barely tells the tale of a see-saw game which saw both sides in the driving seat at different times.

Tries for Rob Evans and Jack Smith had seen Ludlow into a 10-0 lead at the interval, but Kidderminster fought back with two penalties and a try to lead 11-10 going into the last four minutes.

Ludlow then threw "everything including the kitchen sink" at their hosts and managed to win a penalty with just two minutes left on the clock, Mark Williams converting to seal the win.

"In the first half we played pretty well, but in the second half I don't quite know what went wrong but we weren't performing," said skipper Matt Young.

"None of the decisions seemed to be going our way and they really seemed to be going against us.

"We were giving away penalty after penalty after penalty and also had Peter Chidley sin-binned.

"But we threw everything including the kitchen sink at them in the last four minutes and managed to get a penalty. We'd have been disappointed to lose it because it was a game we were pretty much in control of for all of the time."

Shrewsbury suffered a hammering at the hands of Sutton Coldfield in a high-scoring clash with the promotion-chasing West Midlands outfit.

The Sundorne Castle men went down 42-19 away to Sutton in what was an entertaining clash. It was always likely to be a difficult afternoon for Shrewsbury, who were without several players, including their suspended captain James Plant.

Hereford kept up their challenge in Midlands 3 West (South) with a 31-7 away victory over Edwardians.The Wyesiders, who had been knocked out of the Senior Vase the previous week, have now won seven of their eight league games and are only two points adrift of leaders Old Laurentians.

By Chris Hudson