MALVERN Hockey Club were once again outclassed in a Mercian Summer League fixture.

MALVERN HC 0, REDDITCH 4

After the highs of last week's draw away from home with New Silhillians, Malvern were brought back down to earth with a bump.

As was the case with most other weeks, Malvern set about the job in a workmanlike manner. Some good early passing applied pressure to the Redditch goal, but unlike previous weeks, Redditch proved to be the most professional team that Malvern had ever faced.

Their passing was slick and accurate, and they held possession of the ball well. This frustrated Malvern who like to play combinations of long ball and running ball plays.

It wasn't long before Malvern's early pressure had become defensive with Redditch camped out in the Malvern half of the pitch. Malvern held Redditch off well for 15 minutes with some excellent defensive work from Richard Peate and Tom Lewis. But a succession of quick balls around the D found Redditch's Lee Povey in no mood to compromise, a quick turn and a hard shot found Malvern keeper Jim Boocock off his line and without any chance of a save.

Malvern managed a few breaks into the Redditch D but a quick responsive defence stopped Malvern from getting the final shot in. At the other end play was at a stalemate in the Malvern 22 with Redditch retaining possession and working the five-man Malvern defence.

To add to Malvern's troubles defender Tom Lewis was yellow carded for a second stick tackle offence, and had to spend 10 minutes in the sin bin. Redditch upped the pressure and were quickly rewarded with their second goal. A deflected shot off the diving Malvern keeper's pads found its way onto the stick of Lee Povey who placed the ball into the open net for his and Redditch's second goal.

The second half started better for Malvern with the return of Tom Lewis. Some good early play led to a short corner but once again the Redditch defence proved too strong. At the Malvern end another series of short corners resulted in a quick return ball to the Redditch feeder who passed the ball onto the stick of Steven Cooke, who turned and planted the ball into the bottom left corner of the Malvern goal.

Five minutes from time Malvern had a break into the Redditch D, a beautifully paced ball from Kevin Somers found Leigh Robinson in front of his defender, as Robinson turned he was pushed in the back and sent sprawling onto the astroturf. Robinson got up and angrily remonstrated to the Redditch defender. The Redditch umpire called Robinson over where Robinson continued to argue for a deserved penalty flick, instead Robinson got his marching orders for dissent and Malvern were back to ten men.

To cap off a bad evening for Malvern a raised ball from the Redditch winger deflected off the thigh of Malvern defender Mark Howarth finding the stick of Redditch's Lee Povey, who planted the ball into the net for his hat-trick and Redditch's fourth.

Man of the match was Richard Peate for his solid performance in the Malvern defence.