MALVERN Town Reserves travelled to Oldbury for this West Midlands League division one fixture and knew they were in for a tough time as Blackheath Town are lying in fourth place in the table, having lost only twice all season.

BLACKHEATH TOWN 4, MALVERN TOWN RESERVES 2

Town's youngsters were up for this game and took the game to their hosts. After only two minutes Danny James found the back of the net but the goal was rightly disallowed for offside.

Blackheath responded with a short spell of pressure and Gary Hodgson beat Malvern's offside trap. Goalkeeper Mark Hooper blocked the shot with his legs but Lee Chilton headed home the rebound.

Despite this setback Malvern still continued to play the better football and five minutes before half- time Peter Rose chipped the ball into the path of Danny James and he likewise chipped goalkeeper Ed Morris for a deserved equaliser.

With time running out, James turned provider, finding Ollie Endacott on the left wing in space.

As the tricky centre forward headed goalward he skipped between two defenders and they were forced to bring him down with a firm challenge just inside the 18-yard box. James stepped up to take the penalty and gave Malvern a deserved 1-2 half-time lead.

The game took a dramatic change for the worse when Adam Simpson, who was back to his best form, clouted the ball out of play from the edge of the 18-yard box and at the same time was fouled by Adrian Parkes, who unfortunately injured himself in the follow-up challenge.

The referee was right to stop the game for the injured Parkes but appeared to be wrong to award a free-kick against Malvern. As luck would have it Hodgeson struck the free-kick well, and the ball hit a rut in the ground just in front of Hooper. He managed to get his hand to the ball but only parried it into the path of Chilton, who could not miss from close range.

Blackheath rode their luck and following a long throw-in into Malvern's 18 yard box, where the ball was half cleared for a second time by Hooper, Mark Woodall was on hand this time to score Blackheath's third goal.

Malvern then lost their composure a little, and Blackheath, using the wind, pumped long balls up the field time after time. Just before the end of the game Parkes beat the offside trap, steadied himself, and found the back of the net with a fine shot for a scoreline that flattered the hosts.

Whilst Malvern were upset at losing a match they could so easily have won, they can take a certain amount of comfort from the quality of individual and team play for 80 or so minutes of this game.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Malvern Town Reserves are scheduled to meet Brereton Social at Langland Stadium. The match is due to kick-off at 2.45pm.