On Saturday Ross Juniors were defeated by Ledbury Town Reserves for the third time in two months. The result leaves Ross ten points off the top of the Herefordshire Football League Division 1 with eight games left to play.

The match did not start well for Ross as Ledbury took the lead through a Curtis Williams strike within ten minutes. Ross struggled to get a foothold in the match until they were gifted one by Ledbury goalkeeper Lewis Skyers. A Ross corner from the left was spilled by Skyers and the surrounding Ross players managed to bundle in the equaliser.

The goal sparked Ross into action and then started to play as Andrew Densley, in particular, started to pull the strings. With half an hour played Densley looked to put in Harry Hall. Hall ran through but his shot was smothered by Skyers, who atoned for his earlier mistake. Ledbury created the better chances with Tim Rutherford and Carl Wilding getting in on goal down the right channel but they were unable to beat Ross goalkeeper Dan Morris.

However, in the second half, Ledbury's Tim Rutherford would not be denied. Rutherford and Asten Griffiths found more space as the half progressed and created several opportunities. Ledbury extended their lead through a Rutherford corner. The corner was whipped in to the six yard box and taken by the wind causing Morris to misjudge the ball, getting underneath it, and it sailed straight in. Within ten minutes Rutherford struck again. The best passing move of the match involving Griffiths, Tom Watkins and Williams saw Rutherford arrive to strike the ball from the edge of the box into the corner to make it 3-1.

Ledbury made substitutions and created more chances. Tom Watkins went through twice for the away side but was unable to convert. Ross' own substitution paid dividends in the final 15 minutes. Chris Davies came on and Ross immediately improved going forward. Davies was involved in the build up to a late consolation goal for Ross, a beautiful chip over Skyers from the edge of the box, but there was not enough time for Ross to fashion an equaliser.

With fixtures remaining against the teams above them Ross still have a fighting chance of finishing second in the league but will have to apply themselves more consistently, in the manner of the final 15 minutes of Saturday's match, if they are to achieve that.

Meanwhile, in Division 3, Ross Juniors Reserves arrested a run of three consecutive defeats with a 2-2 draw against third placed Relentless. On paper the result is a boon for the Reserves as Relentless haven't lost in the league since mid February, however, given Relentless only showed up with 10 players, and one of those went off injured, they will disappointed not to have picked up all three points.

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