MALVERN Town went two points clear at the top of the Express and Star West Midlands League Premier Division courtesy of this hard fought win against neighbours Bromyard Town in front of a good crowd at the Langland Stadium on Tuesday night.

MALVERN TOWN 2, BROMYARD TOWN 1

Although Malvern made the early running with both Des Cox and the returning Luke Willetts both threatening the visitors goal, it was Bromyard who took the lead when Robbie Woodward's deft header from a free kick put his side in front after only 15 minutes.

But Town's response was not long in coming and in the 21st minute, Willetts set up his strike partner Cox, who drove the ball home for the equaliser.

Malvern tended to hold the upper hand for the remainder of the half, with their best opportunity falling to Rik Halion, whose effort was well saved by Adie Hipkins.

The second period saw Bromyard start brightly, but without ever really threatening 'NY marathon man' Dave Alden in the home goal, whilst at the other end an effort from Halion was wide of the mark, Scott Morris volleyed over and Cox headed over from an excellent Craig Williams cross.

The winning goal came in the 60th minute when Bromyard failed to clear their lines and Malvern's leading scorer Morris saw his drive deflected off a defender and loop over Hipkins to put Town in front.

The rest of the second half became a niggly affair and Malvern's Adam Baldwin somewhat harshly received a second yellow card for an alleged late challenge.

Despite this, Luke Willetts almost extended the home side's lead when his deft chip in the 80th minute defeated Hipkin only to see the ball roll agonisingly wide of the far post.

Malvern's heart's were in their mouths in the 84th minute, when Alden misjudged a cross and the resultant loose ball was fired against the underside of the bar before being scrambled clear.

Town boss Neil Hunt said: "It was probably one of those games where the result was more important that the performance, but Bromyard are a much improved side and we did well to grind a result out after going one down and then losing Adam with a good part of the game still to play."