IF it wasn't for ill discipline, Ledbury would have come away from their illustrious neighbours with a famous victory, instead they were left with thoughts of what might have been.

Hereford 25PTS, LEDBURY 18PTS

Ledbury went into the game with a strong side containing former Hereford RFC legends Al Dixon and Russ Putland. The opening exchanges belonged to Hereford as they laid siege to Ledbury's line but they defended well and repelled the onslaught.

Against the run of play, Keiram Hallam brilliantly intercepted a pass and ran three quarters of the pitch to put Olly Kaye in over the line to give Ledbury a 0-5 lead.

Ledbury then took the game in hand and began pressurising Hereford and a Barrett Price penalty took the score to 0-8. For the next 15 minutes Hereford fought back and camped in the Ledbury 22. Ledbury continually gave away penalties and were punished when veteran prop Chris Kitching got yellow-carded after another Ledbury infringement. Ledbury rose to the ensuing challenge and held Hereford to only three points for the remainder of the half to go into the interval with an 8-3 lead.

The second half was one of the hardest halves both sides will probably play this season as the game began to open up. Ledbury prop Bill Sparrey battered the home defence with his surging runs and Darren Handy and Chris Lewins were both exceptional. Ali Smith and Russ Putland both went close for Ledbury before a sudden piece of brilliance from Rob Collins led to him waltzing over the line for a try. Duly converted by Barrett Price and this took the score to 3-15.

This spurred Hereford on, as Ledbury continued to give away penalties making Rob Collins the second recipient of a yellow card.

Without the influential player/coach 14 men couldn't contain Hereford's 15, three Hereford tries then followed and Ledbury were very quickly 22-15 down.

Another penalty from Barrett Price took the scoreline to 22-18 to set up a frantic finish. Hereford slotted another penalty to give them a seven-point lead. Ledbury threw everything at the home side but Hereford held out.

Skipper Matt Williams said: "We can be proud of our efforts but yet again ill discipline has cost us. We have lost too many tight games now due to this, it's time to buck this trend.

"The support we had at Hereford was phenomenal and we hope this can be matched for our crucial game against Old Leamingtonians on Saturday (tomorrow)."

Don't forget, as well as watching the first team you can be part of history, by grabbing five minutes with the Rugby World Cup. Car parking at Ross Road will be limited and match spectators are asked to dropped off to save spaces.