LUDLOW boss Chris Waldron admits his side are desperate to extend their season by progressing to the semi-finals of the West Midlands Division Two League Cup this weekend.

Waldron’s side warmed up for Saturday’s cup quarter-final at home to AFC Bridgnorth Development by thrashing visitors Rock Rovers 5-0 in the league last weekend.

And with promotion unlikely, barring league restructures – Ludlow cannot finish higher than their current position of fourth – Waldron is focused on the last remaining piece of achievable silverware.

Waldron said: “We want to extend our season because, otherwise, we are going to finish early (March 23) due to the way the fixtures have fallen.

“You always want a cup run and we want to go as far we can in the competition.

“Bridgnorth beat us 3-1 at home in the league not long ago and they are a good side but we can beat anyone on our day.

“They have improved massively this year and made a big step forward, but so have we, so it should be a very even match.”

Ludlow have home advantage for the fixture but Waldron is slightly frustrated by the fact they will have to play on the artificial surface at their stadium rather than the grass pitch.

He added: “We hate playing on there really! I think we have only won twice on that pitch but that is the one we have been allocated this weekend so we have to put up with it.”

Ludlow produced a five-star second-half display against Rock to move up to fourth spot in the league last weekend, with all five goals coming after the interval.

Having defended well against the wind in the opening 45 minutes, Ludlow took full advantage when the conditions were in their favour.

Jack Marston opened the scoring and Tom Everall finished off a lovely team move to make it 2-0 before Danny Crowther, Marain Jusko and Jack Beaumont rounded off the emphatic win.

Waldron beamed: “We just blitzed them in the second half and we could have had more goals as we missed three or four good chances.

“It was nice to get back to winning ways as we had gone three games without a win.”

While Ludlow have little left to play for in the league, they could do neighbours Church Stretton a big favour the following weekend.

Stretton need Gornal Colts to drop points in the race for promotion – and Ludlow host the Black Country side on March 23.

Waldron added: “If Gornal win their game this weekend, it could all be down to us in terms of where the league title is going.

“We could throw a spanner in the works and I’m sure we might have a few Stretton supporters come down that day!”