AFC Ludlow maintained their 15-point lead at the top of Division One of the West Midlands League thanks to a 3-0 home victory over Trysull.

But it wasn’t all one-way traffic with the visitors unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, missing a second-half penalty and then hitting the woodwork.

Both sides missed chances before Jack Beaumont opened the scoring for Ludlow midway through the half.

Mid-table Trysull pushed for an equaliser but the home side doubled their advantage just before the break when a dazzling run from Aaron Hodge took him past four players before teeing up his brother Dale Hodge.

And any thoughts the visitors had of hauling the league leaders in were dashed within three minutes of the restart when Keanu Cooper made it 3-0 following good work by Jason Wellings.

Manager Dave Cooper said scoring at key moments had helped overcome a good Trysull side.

“We are getting the goals at good times,” he admitted. “They had started to come into the game at 1-0 and then we scored just before half-time. We knew they’d come out strong in the second half but managed to get a third within three minutes.

“They’re a good side and battled well considering they had not played for a few weeks.”

Trysull were awarded a penalty with 25 minutes to go only to put the kick wide and they then hit a post as they pressed for a way back into the game.

Cooper added: “We’re not getting carried away, it’s just good to have our games on – our 3G pitch is a Godsend.

“Some of the other clubs haven’t played for so long that it’s going to take a while for them to get their sharpness back. That’s not the case for us as we know that we’ll be able to play on our pitch so we can prepare each week.

“It’s a great facility and has to be the way forward. It means we won’t be playing three or four times each week in March and April.”

Fifth-placed St Martins are the visitors to Bromfield Road on Saturday (ko 2pm) and with the Oswestry outfit also playing their home games on a 3G pitch, Cooper knows it will be another tough game.

“We are the team that everyone wants to beat at the moment,” the Ludlow boss said. “We can’t worry about what others are trying to do, we just need to concentrate on our own game.”