WESTFIELDS Reserves have secured the Hereford Times Herefordshire League title for the first time in their history.

And fittingly they became champions with a 2-0 home win over Ewyas Harold, the side who had emerged as their main challengers over recent games.

The match was an exciting end-to-end affair with the Reserves scoring at either end of the contest to lift the crown. Derek Craddock got them off to a flying start when he tucked away a Kevin Jinks cross at the far post.

Chances flowed at either end, with Phil Glover particularly unlucky to strike the woodwork on two occasions.

Westfields extended their lead in the 82nd minute. Jinks and Tom Harding linked up to create the chance for Carl Morgan. His first effort was well saved, but he was on hand to knock in the rebound to seal the win.

The focus now switches to the battle for the runners-up spot, with three sides still in contention.

With two wins prior to the Westfields game, Harold are in pole position.

For the second week running Ewyas Harold got the better of Ross Town in a tight encounter, winning the away fixture 5-2.

Mark Parnham cancelled out an earlier strike from Harold’s Mark Pitt. The visitors opened up a two-goal lead through an own-goal and a second Pitt strike.

In a spirited second-half rally, Ross pulled a goal back but the visitors sealed the win with goals from Steve Goodwin and a Ross Powell penalty.

Earlier in the week, Harold beat home team Fownhope 3-0. The hosts defended doggedly for much of the time with their keeper Neil Marshall having a particularly good game. Pitt scored all three goals.

Sutton United are the main rivals to Harold after beating Woofferton 2-1 away from home. They are a point behind Harold with both clubs having two fixtures left to play.

Sutton led 2-0 at Woofferton, with the first goal a spectacular strike from Anthony McQuaid. Woofferton rallied in the second half, pulling a goal back, but United held on in a well-contested game.

Bromyard Town Reserves are still in with a chance of finishing second, but they have a difficult task ahead; they need to win their three games, and hope the other two candidates drop points.

Their form has dipped recently and a 2-1 home defeat to Hinton has not helped their cause.

In an evenly-contested game, Jody Dawe scored twice, the second from the penalty spot after Scott Tippins had been brought down. The Reserves scored a late goal.

Hinton also gained a 1-0 home win over local rival Pegasus Reserves to boost their own chances of finishing in the top five.

A competitive game of few chances had 0-0 written all over it until Luke Semple turned the ball home off the post, minutes from time.

At the other end of the table, Fownhope beat visiting Leominster Town 2-0 to ensure they finished off the foot of the table.

In an open game, Richie Endacott produced a clinical finish to put the home side 1-0 up at the break. Tony Richards ran on to a long through-ball, shrugged off the challenge of a defender and scored to seal Fownhope’s sixth win of the campaign.

Bottom-spot goes to Kington Town after they went down 2-1 at Leominster Town in midweek.

Both sides struggled on the bumpy pitch, but Leominster opened up a two-goal lead in the second half, with the dangerous Paul Jones claiming both goals.

Kington kept plugging away and scored a late consolation goal from the penalty spot.

Lads Club beat Fownhope 5-0 at the County Ground in midweek.

They led 4-0 at the break with Luke Darlington, Ryan Daw, Richie Maturi and Mike Olive accounting for the goals. Darlington grabbed a second after the break.

Lads Club followed up with a 4-0 win against visiting Kington Town, but this time had to wait until the hour-mark before taking the lead.

Mike Olive scored twice, with Mike Newman and an own goal accounting for the two.

Ledbury Town Reserves beat visiting Ross Town 3-2 in the other game.