Ledbury Town Reserves outclassed Ross Juniors on Saturday to advance of the semi final of the Ross Cup.

Although Ledbury set up to hit Ross on the counter attack, starting with only one striker, they could have afforded to have been more attacking. An early Ledbury goal, a tap in from close range from full back Chris Stone, saw the away side settle the quicker and dominate possession in the first half.

Ledbury's midfield kept the ball especially well and hit accurate through passes for their wide players to exploit the space in behind the Ross fullbacks. A second goal looked imminent but a lack of quality in the final ball from the wide areas saw the one goal deficit remain in tact as Ledbury's attack missed several chances.

The best of these chances came after Ledbury's Asten Griffiths threaded a beautiful pass through the Ross defence for Curt Williams to run through on goal, only for Ross keeper Dan Morris to make a good save.

Ross came into the game more as the first half wore on but rather aimless balls forward towards Chris Davis meant that despite pushing Ledbury deeper, Ross never created any real chances.

Minutes before half time, Ledbury doubled their lead. A Ledbury corner fell to Tim Rutherford who, from outside of the box, hit a speculative volley which was hit back through the crowd of players in the box dipped and bounced into the corner.

In the second half, Ledbury made changes and their use of the ball was not as fruitful as in the first period. Ross came out and pressed the ball better, and started to create some chances.

However, Ledbury's defence was resolute and when Ross' best chance of the game fell to Jon Tookey, he could only blaze over from six yards. As the match wore on, Ledbury reverted to their original plan of playing on the counter attack and Ross looked stretched in trying to defend against that threat, however to their credit Ross resisted conceding any more goals.

Ross will get the chance to redeem themselves after this disappointing result on Saturday as they play Ledbury again, this time away in the league. Ross currently sit second in the Herefordshire Football League Division One and can go top if they win their two games in hand over first placed Weobley.

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