AFC Ludlow 0 Trysull 1

AFC Ludlow boss Dave Cooper will have to dust off his gloves this Saturday.

Cooper will be playing in goal for the Showtime Stadium club against strugglers Wyrley because regular stopper Ian Harvard is unavailable due to personal reasons.

"My assistants Mike Seaborne, Tim Moriarty and Jamie Morris will be in charge for the game," said Cooper.

"I will take a back-seat because I don't think you should be managing if you're playing.

"I last played in goal in a friendly against Stafford in July."

AFC Ludlow beat Wyrley at home in their opening game of the season and are hopeful that Nathan Hodge will be recovered from his injury in time.

Liam Taylor will also be available, but Dale Hodge will not make it in time.

Cooper's team go into the game on the back of a 1-0 home defeat against Trysull that saw two of their players sent off in the first 20 minutes.

Luke Hicks and Jake Price both received straight red cards after the referee deemed that they denied goalscoring opportunities.

"I was disappointed with the referee and the assistants," said Cooper.

"We were down to 10 men within the first seven or eight minutes after Luke was deemed to have denied a goalscoring opportunity.

"That decision was debatable, but no way did Jake deny one.

"Jake tracked their player back and their legs tangled.

"However, we cannot appeal the decisions.

"They will therefore be suspended for the Bromyard game on September 20, which will be a massive game."

Nevertheless, Cooper felt that his team still had chances to win the game despite their numerical disadvantage.

"We should have been 5-0 up with the chances we had, but they were not taken," said Cooper.

"They had three shots on target all game and scored with 20 minutes to go.

"In the last five minutes we chucked everything at them, but we had nothing left.

"The players were exhausted, especially as we only had nine men.

"But we still should have won and were the better team."

Last Saturday's defeat was AFC Ludlow's first of the season and they drop to third in West Midlands League Division One.

Wyrley, meanwhile, are third from bottom and have conceded 15 goals from their five games.

They go into the game on the back of a 4-2 defeat against Penncroft.