LUDLOW RFC kept their survival hopes alive with a narrow 6-5 victory over Wolverhampton in the Midlands 2 West (North), it was a win made all the more important by the fact that fellow relegation contenders Stafford also won. “Had we lost and Stafford had got the result they did, we’d have been in serious trouble” admitted Ludlow coach Norman Stalker afterwards.

Ludlow opened the scoring with a penalty from Will Norton early on, they went on to dominate the early play until having a player sin-binned. Wolverhampton quickly made the most of their temporary numerical advantage to score an unconverted try to lead at the break 5-3.

“We felt we were in a good position despite trailing at the break, we had controlled the game and looked the stronger of the two sides” said Stalker, “at half time I told the players to go out and continue doing what they had done in the first half.”

Ludlow regained the lead, again through a penalty, with Will Sparrow kicking between the posts to restore the Linneymen’s advantage. The game ebbed and flowed with both sides searching to add to their points tally; Wolverhampton missed two penalties as they looked to reclaim the lead, whilst Ludlow were denied a couple of try scoring opportunities after being held up on the line.

“It was a tense end to the game” admitted Stalker. “I’m so proud of the players, I knew they had that kind of performance in them. I’m delighted that we managed to hold on.”

After being critical of his sides fitness levels in recent weeks, Stalker was quick to give praise to his players “a month or so ago we weren’t fit enough and we’d have probably lost this game. Credit to the players, they have worked extremely hard off the pitch to improve their fitness levels, and today’s win is testament to that.”

Ludlow have five games left to secure safety and face fellow relegation threatened Stafford in their penultimate game of the season “we’ve got to get another win before we meet Stafford” said Stalker “we don’t want that game to be a winner-takes-all affair, we want to be in the driving seat.”

Next up for Ludlow is a home game against third placed Moseley Oak, despite the gulf in league positions between the two sides Stalker is confident of picking up the points “we’ve got nothing to fear on the weekend, we just need to continue doing what we did last week.”