AFC Ludlow boss Dave Cooper said he was “gutted” to see his side slip to defeat at Stone Old Alleynians.

The south Shropshire outfit went down 2-1 to the Staffordshire side in West Midlands League Division One.

The result leave Ludlow in fourth place, nine points behind table-toppers Bromyard who have three games in hand.

But the game was overshadowed by a nasty eye injury to Adie Marsh, who was taken to hospital in Shrewsbury but was later discharged.

“We were worried he had broken his eye socket at one point,” said Cooper.

“He headed the back of an opponent's head.

“When he turned around his eye was closed up and was the size of a tennis ball so we thought it best to send him to hospital.”

On the field, both sides failed to break each other down in a goalless first half.

But shortly after the break, Stone took the lead forcing Cooper to bring on Danny Gower to bolster his attacking options.

And within ten minutes Gower had brought his side level with a fine finish.

In the aftermath of the goal, however, the home side’s goalkeeper was sent off after arguing with the referee.

From then on it looked as though AFC Ludlow would win the game but the visitors were dispossessed in midfield, allowing Stone to score the winner despite being a man down.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot,” said Cooper afterwards.

“We’ve got to learn to clear our lines. We just handed them the winning goal.”

Cooper said he hopes to have new signing Jamie Edwards available for this Saturday’s game at home to Worcester Raiders, as well as Nathan Hodge.

But he admits he doesn’t think his side will finish any higher than they are now.

“We’re fourth at the moment and that’s probably as high as we are going to finish,” he said.

“I was gutted after the game on Saturday.

“It was a great performance but we’ve got nothing out of it.”

Ludlow have won nine of their 21 league games so far this campaign.

They sit in a congested part of the table with just three points separating sixth and second.

Top of the table Bromyard have lost just two games all season, both against Ludlow.