Whitchurch Alport 1 AFC Ludlow 2.

DANNY Gower proved there’s life after the Hodge brothers - with two goals which keep Ludlow in the Mercian League Premier Division title hunt.

Gower scored a contender for Ludlow’s best goal of the season with a neat flick and volley after just four minutes of Saturday’s match at Whitchurch Alport.

The ex-Woofferton man had fired Ludlow ahead from the penalty spot after he was brought down inside the box within 26 seconds of the opening whistle.

Dave Cooper’s men are now just a point adrift of table-topping FC Hodnet with two games in hand. Ludlow host Telford Juniors this Saturday.

“Nathan and Dale Hodge have left the club,” confirmed Ludlow boss Cooper, “but I am very happy with the lads who played on Saturday.”

“We dominated the match from start to finish and the scoreline didn’t reflect how much we bossed the game.

“Sean Evans had a couple of chances and Chris Breakwell had a few and we should have been out of sight by the break.”

Whitchurch missed a first-half spot-kick after Adie Marsh had been harshly penalised for a handball, according to Cooper.

Marsh conceded a second penalty 10 minutes from the end and Whitchurch slotted the spot-kick past Ian Havard.

Cooper is now focused on this weekend’s tough home clash.

“Telford are just one place below us and one point behind us in the table and have only lost one match,” said Cooper.

“We were scheduled to be away this Saturday, but Telford groundshare with Dawley and the league have asked us to switch the match to our place. “Hopefully, we will get a few people down to watch it.”