MALVERN Town, without a strike force due to injuries to Dean Roberts and Des Cox, Scott Morris unavailable and Wes Joyce having left for Evesham, called on former player Simon Judge to help them out.

CRADLEY TOWN 3 MALVERN TOWN 4

He duly responded by scoring two goals in the first 20 minutes in Town's Midland Alliance game at Cradley Town on Saturday.

His first goal came after only three minutes when he headed home after a superb cross from Darren Bullock.

In the 10th minute a Duncan Preedy corner was headed just over by Rik Halion and in the next minute a 35-yard free kick by Bullock was tipped over the bar by keeper Paul Fellows. Judge headed his second goal after 20 minutes following a good cross into the area from Duncan Preedy. Two minutes later a pin-point free kick by Bullock, just inside the opponent's half, found Duncan Preedy but he could not control the ball and it went out for a goal kick.

In the 32nd minute Malvern increased their lead when Lee Tomkins played the ball through to Duncan Preedy, who slotted the ball past keeper Paul Fellows.

Malvern completely dominated the first half and fully deserved their three-goal lead.

The second half was very tight with Malvern content to sit on their lead and very few chances were created, although in the 60th minute a good ball from Andy Chalmers found Duncan Preedy on the right, who crossed the ball into the area and Judge's shot was deflected wide of the post

With five minutes of normal time remaining Malvern decided to go on a suicide mission and following sloppy work at the back, Gavin Mole intercepted the ball and slotted it home to give Cradley hope.

A minute later a disputed corner was headed home by Cradley's man-of-the-match Mark Smith to bring the score to 3-2.

However straight from the restart Malvern played the ball up-field with Richard Tomkins in hot pursuit and, following hesitation between Thomas Millington and his keeper Fellows, Tomkins sneaked in to rob the ball and watched in delight as it crossed over the line.

Cradley had the final word deep into injury time when Andre Whyte picked up the ball and his shot hit the post on its way into the net to make the final score 3-4.