LUDLOW Town Colts boss Scott Mackenzie insists his side will not get carried away by thoughts of a league and cup double ahead of Saturday’s huge semi-final against Shobdon.

League leaders Colts host their Herefordshire Division One title rivals in the last four of the Herefordshire Junior Cup.

The winners of that tie will be strong favourites in the final against the winners of the other semi between St Johns Howle Hill and Ledbury Town Reserves.

But Mackenzie warned: “It would be lovely to do the double but we have to take one game at a time and not get carried away.

“It would be absolutely fantastic to get to a cup final and I think the lads deserve it for all the hard work they have put in this season.

“But we know we are in for a tough game as Shobdon are a good side who have brought some decent players in.”

Ludlow extended their lead at the top of the table to five points with a 3-0 win at Ledbury Town Reserves last Saturday – on a weekend where all their closest challengers failed to win.

Second-placed Hinton Reserves lost 2-1 at home to Ross Juniors while third-placed Wellington Colts drew 2-2 with Shobdon, who sit fourth.

But despite enjoying games in hand on all the other contenders, Mackenzie refuses to believe Ludlow have one hand on the title.

He added: “We still have to play Shobdon in the league twice and there is still a long way to go.

“We had a good result at the weekend and Shobdon drawing also helped but we are taking nothing for granted.”

Amazingly, last weekend’s win at Ledbury was the table-toppers’ first clean sheet of the season and Mackenzie classed that as the biggest positive from the game.

Dan Griffiths put them ahead in the first half, speeding on to a ball over the top to slot home, but Colts had to settle for a one-goal lead at the interval against a side sitting second-bottom.

They improved after the break as Solomon Barker finished off a superb solo run to make it 2-0 before 42-year-old defender Mark Tonkinson’s glancing header sealed the points.

Mackenzie added: “We knew it was going to be a tough game because the pitch wasn’t the best and we can struggle on pitches that have been kicked up a bit.

“Still, I wasn’t happy with the first half. You can blame the conditions, blame the pitch and blame the ref but we should still have been out of sight with the opportunities we created.

“But I was really pleased with the clean sheet especially as I had a couple of defenders missing. To play like we did in the second half, when we were kicking uphill, shows our character and mentality.

“We haven’t had a clean sheet for a long time so to get one away on an atrocious pitch was very pleasing.”