MALVERN Town triumphed in a sea of mud to win 2-1 at in-form Alvechurch in the Travel Factory Alliance.

They moved up to third in the table after defeating a side who had seen off previous leaders Chasetown only seven days earlier.

With this in mind, Malvern opened cautiously but took the game to their opponents without creating an early chance.

Gareth Davies should have done better for Alvechurch when his final effort sailed over the bar on 25 minutes when he out-stripped the defence.

With conditions getting more difficult, players found it hard to keep their feet which made play scrappy at times.

But on 33 minutes Malvern had a great chance to take the lead when a long kick by Paul Wyatt found Dean Roberts on the edge of the box but he shot straight at the 'keeper after turning superbly.

Alvechurch came more into the game and Wyatt was forced into a great diving save from the lively O'Shea.

Paul Longthorn squandered another opportunity but the hosts went ahead on the stroke of half-time through Jason Ramsey's first-time shot from 18 yards.

However, the second-half was only five minutes old when Malvern equalised.

Andy Chalmers made ground down the right flank to deliver a low cross which eluded everyone and found the corner of the net with home 'keeper Allen rooted to the spot.

The game became even for a while with both defences looking solid and chances at a premium.

But Town looked more effective going forward and Duncan Preedy caused concern with his pace down the right flank.

Roberts shook the post with a tremendous shot from Craig Williams' pass.

In an end-to-end clash, Town grabbed the points with four minutes left through sub Des Cox.

Cox, found on the edge of the box, looked up and chipped a superb lob over the 'keeper into the net.