Ludlow 9pts Bishop's Castle 6pts

THE FIRST league meeting between the local rivals was a tight affair with Mark Williams just pipping his counterpart Matthew Willcock by three penalties to two to give Lud-low the points and maintain their 100 percent record in Midlands Four West (North).

Castle promoted last term can take pride from their part in a contest that would have seemed only a dream a few seasons ago. Both teams are locked on six points along with Veseyans and trail leaders Newcastle by two points, but Ludlow have a game in hand on all the others.

The game began as it was to continue with both sets of forwards locked in a struggle for domination. The possession gained was so keenly contested that it made back play almost impossible and even restricted the normally accurate positional kicking of Williams. As a result the game was played mainly in midfield and came down to the whistle of the referee.

Although Castle took the lead early on through the boot of Willcock it was the home team who had opened up a 9-3 lead by the break as the visitors in-curred the wrath of the referee.

Castle survived an onslaught at the start of the second half and set up a frantic last 15 minutes when Willcock reduced the deficit to three points. The visitors threw caution to the wind but the closest they came to sharing the spoils was another long range Willcock penalty that drifted just past the posts.

Ludlow also won the second team fixture by 29-12 with Phil Hughes and John Smith scoring tries for the losers and Paul Hamer converting one of them.