Ross Juniors played away in the league at Ledbury Town Reserves on Saturday. After being dumped out of the Ross Cup by Ledbury last week, they had a chance to bounce back from that lacklustre performance, this time in the league.

If Ross manager Dan Morris used last week's performance as a stick to beat his side with before the match, it worked. Ross flew out of the traps and took a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes. Harry Hall tapped in from close range after Ledbury failed to clear a corner, and Andrew Densley fired home to double the lead. Densley and Jon Tookey monopolised the ball in the midfield and Ross showed more verve and attacking nouse in the opening 20 minutes than they demonstrated in the entire match last week.However, after such a promising start Ross then appeared to completely switch off, within the space of three minutes Ledbury hit back twice to level the match; Ledbury winger Gavin Walton was allowed to cut in from the left wing and he fired a shot goalwards, Aidan Cook atttempted to make the block but the ball only looped further up and out of the reach of keeper Dan Morris and into the net. 90 seconds later, it was Ross who this time failed to clear their lines from a corner and Ledbury tapped home to equalise.

Ross resumed their dominance and Harry Hall continued to look dangerous every time he received the ball. Hall gave Ross the lead again, with an excellent finish beyond the reach of Ledbury keeper Nick Blakeway, after some more good football by Ross where Ledbury were simply chasing shadows. Before half time, with the score 3-2, Hall would receive yet another chance.

A good bout of possession in the Ross midfield saw Chris Davies drop deep and collect the ball as Ledbury tried to hold a high line. Davies laid the ball off and ran into space, creating a chasm through the Ledbury defence for Harry Hall to run into. The ball was fed through to Hall in acres of space. However, he stopped, expecting an offside flag which never arrived, upon resuming his run, with the Ledbury defence and goalkeeper closing in, Hall's effort on goal was tame and the chance had gone. That proved crucial.

In the second half, Ledbury played with the slope and Ross' performance started to echo last week's disappointment. Suddenly, Ledbury were allowed time and space on the ball, and they made the most of it, creating several chances before finally converting a couple that would turn the result around in their favour.

The lessons of Walton's first goal, in the first half, were not learned and the winger cut inside time and again, equalising with a simple tap in after Ross had lost all shape on the counter attack, giving Ledbury the victory with a cooly taken penalty, which he had won after being brought down in the box. Ledbury were even afforded the luxury of fielding several under-18s players in the final ten minutes as Ross offered little in the way of an attacking threat.

Ross' next fixture is on March 2nd away at Wooferton in the HFL Jock Handley Cup. The Reserves are at home in the league on Saturday, against Tenbury Colts, in a 2.30pm kick off.

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.