CLEE Hill United boss Wayne Whitbread believes his side might need to reproduce last season’s stunning run of wins to have a chance of retaining their Herefordshire Premier title.

A 5-0 victory at Wellington Reserves kept Clee at the summit but title rivals Malvern Town Reserves and Holme Lacy both have games in hand.

United won all of their final 13 games last season to claim the title and Whitbread admitted: “With the other teams having games in hand, it’s possible we will need to win every game.

“It’s a real role reversal from last season as now we are the ones sitting at the top having played more games.

“But if the season ends up going into May, for the others to make those games up, it gets tricky with the cricket season starting, Bank Holidays, people going away, etc.

“We still have to play Holme Lacy twice and Malvern once but it’s not just about those games. We’ve got to go on a run like last season where we win all our games if we want to win the league.”

Hill will have a measure of revenge on their mind on Saturday as they welcome a sixth-placed Hinton side who came from 3-0 down to knock them out of the Herefordshire Charity Bowl last month.

“It would be nice to put that right,” admitted Whitbread. “But they are going well so we will have to be as good as we were last Saturday, if not a bit better.”

Goals from Ollie Smith, Ben Slingsby, Craig Breakwell, Stevie Preece and Josh Carpenter capped a five-star display at Wellington to regain top spot after Malvern had won the previous evening.

Whitbread added: “That was our best performance for a long, long time, not just for patches but for the whole 90 minutes we were in control of the game and could have had a lot more goals.”

Elsewhere, Ludlow Colts came from a goal down to beat fifth-placed Westfields Reserves 2-1 thanks to strikes from Danny Griffiths and Jack Marston.

Tenth-placed Colts host Shobdon in a derby on Thursday night and joint boss Mark Tonkinson said: “I’m really pleased with the lads and if we can finish in the top eight that will be a good season.”

Ludlow also visit Hellenic League side Wellington in the Herefordshire Challenge Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday night and Tonkinson added: “It’s a step up for the boys but we will go and enjoy it."