Walsall suffered their third successive defeat and are slowly sliding away from the leading group of teams in Midlands Two West.
They have struggled on their travels this season, winning only two of their nine games in all competitions. They faced a Ludlow team that had already displayed some superb running and passing skills in a high scoring drawn game at Delves Road in early October. This latest encounter proved to be a similar contest in many aspects. The hosts, once again, showed that they were capable of launching attacks from any area of the pitch. Walsall, however, will be encouraged by a strong forward performance which should have resulted in more points on the scoreboard. The opening ten minutes saw the visitors having to defend against some determined Ludlow attacks through their forwards and their backs. When Walsall gained possession, they showed some good ball retention skills and were close to making a breakthrough on a couple occasions. Dickson, Pittaway, James and Benson were all involved in some good linking play that took play deep into Ludlow territory. Both teams were looking to make ground through effective use of the ball by maintaining possession. It was rather ironic that the first score came through some rather poor kicking. The hosts were quick to counter attack when Walsall tried to kick ahead and after some inter passing, full back Jim Doyle went over for the try which Will Sparrow converted. Walsall were soon driving forward with Mike Lockett and Matt James dominating the lineout. But when the ball was moved wide, the home defence were quick, and at times, seemed rather too quick, in stepping up to make the tackles. Near the half hour the hosts added to their score as they moved the ball quickly and winger Sparrow finished off with a devastating burst of speed for a try near the corner flag. Five minutes later a loose ball was kicked on and Doyle won the race to score his second try. Sparrow added the conversion to give his team a 19 – 0 interval lead.
The second half saw Walsall continue to push forward with Luczac,Hickman,Weaver and full back Weston making good breaks. Five minutes into the half the visitors were looking to put winger Nico Watkins away. But the Walsall pass was intercepted by Sparrow, who then outpaced the Walsall defence in a seventy meter run for the try line with Doyle adding the conversion. The visitors had long periods of possession during the rest of the half, and were harshly denied a try after a good lineout drive. However, on the next occasion there was no stopping the Walsall drive as Lockett took the lineout ball and Matt James ensured that the ball was grounded for the try. Weston then stepped up to put over a difficult conversion. The visitors pressed hard in trying to get another score, but the Ludlow defence remained strong. A Doyle penalty for the hosts completed the scoring.