A GOAL in each half from Ryan Lewis helped Ludlow to a 3-3 draw with Market Drayton Town Reserves and their first point of the season.

But just one week after an 8-1 mauling at early leaders Warstone Wanderers, it could have been so much better for Luke Hicks’ side who eased to a three-goal lead early in the second half.

It was Lewis who opened the scoring from close range after a Danny Crowther effort had been parried by the Drayton keeper.

Young midfielder Jack Marston had an excellent game in the middle of the park, causing the visitors all sorts of problems. And when he was hauled down late in the half it was left to Jack Beaumont to double the lead from the penalty spot.

Ludlow continued to dominate proceedings at the start of the second half and were rewarded when Lewis netted his second of the game after a corner was only cleared as far as the edge of the area.

But after such an excellent opening, the Bromfield Road side suffered a major setback soon after scoring their third goal.

Hicks explained: “I made a couple of changes after the first game, bringing in the former AFC Ludlow captain Jamie Marsh and more experience in Alan Williams from Craven Arms.

“Jamie hasn’t played much recently and he had to come off with cramp which meant I moved things around a little.

“They scored a scrappy goal to get back into the game and they then scored from a set-piece which is something we need to look at as we looked vulnerable because we’re not a very big side.

“The heads went down and Market Drayton scored a third only for us to come back into the game for the final 15 minutes and Danny Crowther had a good chance to win it for us at the end.”

The performance was totally different to the one that saw them crushed last weekend and Hicks is hopeful his players can continue on their learning curve.

“We are a young side with just four of the players having played in the West Midlands League before,” Hicks added. “We all knew we were better than we showed in the first game and the players were determined to go out and put the record straight – they showed they are more than capable of competing at this level.”

Ludlow are at Rock Rovers on Saturday keen for a repeat of the 3-2 victory they secured in pre-season.

“We know it’s going to be difficult because they are a big strong side like so many in this league,” the manager added. “We just need to repeat what we did in the first half against Market Drayton.”