THE Malvern men's first hockey team travelled to play Standard on Saturday and produced a good display of hard work and sheer determination.

STANDARD 2, MALVERN 1

The home fixture had been tight and Malvern were unlucky to lose that game. With both regular keepers unavailable, Mark Howarth stepped up and did the club proud. Malvern fell behind to a highly controversial goal. After a lame shot on goal the ball stopped at the keeper's feet but the umpire judged that the ball had crossed the line.

This decision seemed to spur Malvern on to greater things. Again the defence was fantastic. Rich Peate was the rock in the core of defence ably assisted by Paul Owen and John Clements.

The midfield, after a shaky start, began to play some fine hockey with flowing moves down both flanks. One such move produced a penalty corner. Brian Crump passed the ball to Leigh Robinson, who struck a sweet shot leaving the keeper helpless to tie the score.

Malvern continued to press and were unlucky not to go ahead when David Sheath found himself in space but his shot didn't have pace.

Standard took the lead when a wicked deflection trickled over the goal-line much to the keepers annoyance.

Malvern had many chances to score but were unable to capitalise.

All 12 Malvern players excelled themselves. Ian Braim easily had his best game of the season whilst Ben Mawby continues to improve.

Man-of-the-match was Rich Peate.