MISSED penalty kicks left Kidderminster Carolians with a narrow winning margin at Ludlow in the Intermediate Cup second round.

KCs avoided a shock by defeating their Midland Four West North opponents 20-13.

Unlike the previous game at Lichfield, they dominated the line-outs but gained little advantage from the ball they won.

Saturday was a tale of two kickers with KCs' Andy Stooksbury lacking practice after missing several weeks.

Meanwhile, Ludlow's game hinged around the kicking and play of stand-off Mark Williams.

Williams put his team ahead with an eighth-minute penalty as Ludlow took the game to KCs.

In the space of two minutes, the visitors were unsuccessful with two kicks and Ludlow missed the chance of going six points up shortly after.

But KCs' Jason Sunderland and Ambro Neri were trying their hardest to fight their way through and it paid off.

Good work by Eddie Ross set up Sunderland for their first try with Stooksbury's conversion and penalty five minutes later making it 10-3.

With five minutes remaining, Williams kicked his second penalty to bring Ludlow closer at half-time.

KCs made changes after 15 minutes of the second half with Paul Drew, re-signed from Worcester, on as prop and Jon Mounter entering the fray.

And KCs scored their second try on the hour when hooker Stuart Such was on hand to score on the left-hand side.

Mark Cleaton came on to replace the industrious Sunderland but this heralded a revival by Ludlow with Williams grabbing a converted try.

At 15-13, it was too close for comfort and KCs had to make sure they did not let Ludlow through again with 18 minutes left.

They achieved that goal and grabbed a third try in injury-time through Simon Northcott.

Coach Ross Baxter, sidelined with a leg injury, said, "The team hustled and bustled about but never seemed able to sustain their efforts for any length of time.

"Ludlow were allowed to disrupt and had Kidderminster built a bigger gap score-wise then I feel we could have opened up.

"We have not been expansive in recent weeks but did show a little bit of that style this time.

"Ben Turner is a good acquisition and Paul Drew is a great asset to have on stand-by. I was pleased with Simon Wilks' performance and he led the pack well."

Dudley Kingswinford Wasps 32

KCs 2nds 5

KCs centres were outplayed in a hard game which saw an improved display from the previous week.

Full-back Ben Stanier scored a good try as Dudley led 15-5 at half-time through two tries, one converted, and a penalty.

The teams were well matched up front in the second half but the pace and strength of the home side's centres saw them finish KCs off.

KCs 3rds 0

Dudley-King'ford Scorpions 8

KCs scrummaged well with hooker Chris Jones impressive but lost narrowly to experienced opponents.

It was scoreless at half-time before a penalty and try against the run of play secured an away win.

KCs applied pressure and moved the ball along their back-line with Martin Bevan and Ken Bickley working well together.

Full-back James Whitehouse made incisive runs as KCs pressed hard to the end and were unlucky not to score.

Fixture, Saturday: KCs v Old Yardleians (Midlands Three West North), 1sts and 3rds home, 2nds and 4ths away (all 3pm).

KCs U-15s 22

Birmingham Solihull 7

Four tries gave KCs a North Midlands Cup first round victory.

They got off to the perfect start with Greg Summers' early try but then had to wait until just before half-time for a Simon Billingsley effort.

Summers scored his second before a converted try closed the gap to 15-7 with 10 minutes left.

KCs defence was solid though their discipline let them down.

However, a late flowing move saw Richard Jones score the try of the match.