A FINAL minute penalty courtesy of Jack Hughes saw Ledbury sneak a 30-27 victory against second placed Ludlow in the Regional 2 Midlands West

After a humbling at the hands of Cheltenham the previous week, Ledbury made several changes, including selecting Hughes at fly half.

Ledbury conceding unnecessary penalties early in the match, and giving possession back to Ludlow with some inaccurate kicking.

From a turnover a Ledbury kick went straight to the Ludlow backs resulting in a converted try for Rhys Perkins (0-7).

Ledbury responded to the initial setback and Iolo Bubb gifted a perfectly placed pass into the hands of Zac Bonfield, who scored between the sticks a converted try (7-7).

The hosts gained the lead after Ludlow were penalised for offside at a maul and Hughes converted the penalty (10-7).

The last five minutes of the half saw Ledbury build a head of steam and after six phases of play Ludlow ran out of defenders and winger Lewis Turner touched down for a another converted try (17-7).

Going into the second half, a galvanised Ludlow continued to benefit from some profligate kicking from Ledbury and built phases of play that saw their centre score in the corner (17-12).

Minutes later Ludlow scored again, their No 8 taking the ball at pace from 40 metres out to score (17-17).

A further try saw Ledbury well and truly on the ropes (17-22).

A yellow card for Charlie Barber-Starkey for side entry when Ludlow were rumbling towards the Ledbury line gave Ludlow the impetus to score again as they scythed through the Ledbury defence (17-27).

All seemed undone but a valiant Ledbury were not finished and rallied to the cause. From a penalty, the hosts kicked for the corner, and at the lineout mauled their way over for a hard-won converted try for Tom Manning (24-27).

Hughes brought the scores level with a penalty from 35 metres out (27-27).

Ledbury threw everything into attack and Ludlow were doing their level best to keep them out.

A high tackle 40 metres out gave Hughes the opportunity to seal an unlikely win.

The trajectory of the ball was low but miraculously the ball crept over the bar to send Ledbury supporters into seventh heaven with a 30-27 win.

All that remained was for Ledbury to secure the kick-off and despatch the ball into touch to record an extremely precious hard-fought victory.