Ludlow 19 pts Moseley Oak 22pts

COACH Dave Irish says Ludlow Rugby Club should remain confident of pushing for a top-two spot in Midlands Two West (North).

The Linneymen were edged out by Moseley Oak in their opening league match last weekend after switching off at a vital moment.

And Irish says Ludlow will be gunning for revenge this Saturday over Old Saltleians, who knocked them out of the North Midlands Shield two weeks ago.

“Moseley Oak finished second in the league last season and they are a strong club,” said Irish, whose side were relegated from Midlands One West last term.

“Our ambition is to finish in the top two or three at the end of the season and that was a good marker for us.”

Irish added: “We played some good rugby and scored three tries against very good opposition.”

This weekend, Ludlow travel to Warwickshire to face Old Saltleians, who pipped them 11-9 in a North Midlands Shield tie earlier this month.

“We did not do ourselves justice in the Old Salts cup match and it was a wake-up call,” said Irish, who is being helped by former Greyhound coach Pete Williams.

“We are very much looking forward to going up there.

We have to start to pick up points away from home.”

Ludlow hit back from 12-5 down to lead 19-12 against Moseley Oak before the visitors snatched the points in the last 10 minutes of last Saturday’s curtainraiser.

Moseley scored a converted try to lead 7-0 at the interval.

Will Sparrow scored a try for Ludlow, but the visitors hit back to lead 12-5.

Ludlow then had a purple patch, with scores from Will Green and Mark Williams which were converted by Sparrow and Will Norton.

The visitors replied with a penalty to cut Ludlow’s lead to 19-15 and then crashed over with a converted try.