Longlevens U18s made to work hard in with over Ledbury Town

Longlevens U18s made hard work of their league fixture against Ledbury Town on Monday night, before eventually running out 4-1 winners at Saw Mills.

After Jacob Chamberlain put the hosts ahead inside the first quarter of an hour, it looked set to be a straight forward task for Brandon Vance’s men.

However, a half of chance after chance going begging, they were pegged back thanks to a Oliver Anderson-Kirby rocket, just after half time.

But the Ledbury leveller woke the hosts up, who had been drifting either side of the restart.

Substitute Guy Henry restored his side’s lead, before Jamol Dare converted a spotkick he won, with twenty minutes to go.

And Charlie Wilkes stepped up to fire home a free kick – Levens’ third goal in eleven second half minutes to win the game.

The victory sees Vance’s side remain in 3rd place in the Cheltenham Youth Floodlit League, five points ahead of Tuffley Rovers in 4th, who won 3-0 on Monday night, themselves.

Longlevens have two games in hand over the top two, but are 13 points off league leaders, Bishops Cleeve.

The game started with great chances for either side, early on. First, George Wilkinson volleyed over for Ledbury, before Chamberlain saw his lobbed effort palmed over by Archie Hughes.

But Hughes couldn’t prevent Chamberlain from opening the scoring moments later, as the forward turned on the edge of the box and fired into the bottom corner.

Alex Knight went close to adding to his tally for the season, but saw a free kick from the left bounce off the far post, before he too, was denied by Hughes.

Karl Tchibe and Chamberlain both had good chances to double the hosts’ lead either side of the half hour mark, but neither could find the target from inside the box.

Knight was denied once more by Hughes, who saved well in a one on one, before Jamol Dare scuffed an effort straight at Hughes, right on half time.

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The second half saw Ledbury try to come out at their hosts more, with a number of free kicks in and around the area in the early stages.

Charlie Wilkes had the first shot of the half though, but once again his effort was straight at Hughes.

And just after the hour mark, Longlevens were punished for turning sloppy on the ball and being wasteful, as Ledbury sub, Oliver Anderson-Kirby held off two defenders before rifling past Adam Steel from about 20 yards.

Ledbury were only level for six minutes though, as a free kick was cut back to Dare and after his effort was blocked, Guy Henry was on hand to fire into the bottom corner and restore the lead.

Three minutes later the game was done and dusted, when Dare was tripped in the box and he stepped up to tuck home the penalty.

Gloss was added to the scoreline with just over ten minutes left, when Charlie Wilkes stepped up to send a free kick past Hughes to complete the scoring.

Chamberlain came closest to the game’s sixth goal, but his thunderous 30 yard effort clipped the top of the crossbar.

Next up for Longlevens is a S Turier & Son Cup Quarter Final at home to Bishops Cleeve next Monday (4 March), whilst Ledbury are without a game until the league split at the end of March.

Longlevens U18s: Steel, Peirce, Ford, McLean, Fieldhouse, Knight, Twyning, Wilkes, Dare, Chamberlain, Tchibe

Subs: King, Butler, Izekor, Henry, Bevan

Ledbury Town U18s: Hughes, Westwood, Sheen, Juggesur, Tolley, Atkins, Patterson, Bradder, Goddard, Wilkinson, Rudd

Subs: Thick, Jones, Skidmore, Martin, Anderson-Kirby

C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Jacob Chamberlain (Longlevens U18s)