LEDBURY FC manager Ian Merrick, is confident ahead of the sides' game with Bromyard Town, despite their losing streak. 

Merrick re-joined that club as the manager last week (November 5), after the departure of Matt Tunley and his assistant manager Kirk Imm. 

Merrick has presided over his first game back at the helm, with the side losing 5-1 to New Dales Vale in the HFA Charity Bowl. 

"To be honest I wasn't expecting to come back, I hadn't really planned on coming back," said Merrick. "A few things didn’t quite work out as the club would have hoped with Matt Tunley. He is an excellent coach, but there was a bit of a transitional period where some players who were playing for me decided to move on. So we lost a good core group of players from last season unfortunately, and that left quite a lot of young players to pick up the slack."

The reappointment presents a different challenge than Merrick has experienced at Ledbury, having previously contested the title run at the other end of the table. 

"It is obviously a different challenge," said Merrick. "In previous years we were always there or there abouts. We were second twice, in the 2022/23 season we lost the league by a point. Last year we were a point off second, finishing fourth. We were also always very competitive in the County Cup against Step 5 teams.

"It will take time because taking over a team halfway through a season is never easy.

"Results will come eventually, we have got some really good young players coming through. But you don’t want a full team of only under 18s, because it is a tough environment with a lot of experienced players in that Herefordshire League. We need a little bit of experience to guide the younger players in the right direction."

Ledbury's next game sees them facing up against Bromyard Town, this Friday (November 15). 

In Bromyard's last game they ran out 12-1 winners against Westfield Reserves. 

Merrick said: "We can't really read too much into that result, because Westfield Reserves have got a lot of younger players coming through so results can be a little bit hectic, a bit up and down for them.

"When we were playing in the West Midlands League, Bromyard was our local derby. New Street would be packed out, so it’s a Friday night game, they tend to get a big crowd at New Street for those games.

"We will go into it with confidence that we can hopefully pull off a favourable result."