MALVERN Town moved into third place in the Midlands League Premier Division following an eventually comfortable, but hard earned success against local rivals Ledbury Town at a rain swept Langland Stadium on Tuesday night.

MALVERN TOWN 5, LEDBURY TOWN 2

In this long awaited encounter, both sides were desperate for three points in order to maintain a title challenge. It was the home side who drew first blood when as early as the first minute Mark Johnson slipped the ball through to Des Cox. As Cox rounded visiting goalkeeper Rory Hollingshead he pulled Cox to the floor as he was about to slip the ball into the empty net.

Hollingshead failed to receive any sort of card but Malvern skipper Dean Roberts exacted absolute retribution by converting the resultant spot kick.

For the next 20 minutes Malvern played with a confidence you would expect from a side in a such a rich vein of form but they were not able to add to their score, despite good efforts from Cox and Luke Willetts

Having weathered the early storm, Ledbury came far more into the picture and Malvern goalkeeper Melvyn Watson saved brilliantly from Chris Powell and then the normally lethal Robbie Colwell fired wide from a good position.

A Ledbury equaliser arrived in the 25th minute when Town failed to clear a free kick and as the ball came back off an upright, former Town striker Rob Perrins was on hand to stab the ball in from close range.

Malvern's response though was immediate. A short corner was played to Craig Williams and the Malvern full back's cross was only half cleared to the feet of Rik Halion who drove the ball home from the edge of a packed penalty area.

Ledbury continued to press and as half time approached it was the home side who were perhaps a little relieved to conclude the first 45 minutes with their lead still intact.

At the start of the second period Malvern still struggled to recapture the fluency of their opening spell and it did not come as a surprise to the large crowd when Colwell secured his side's second equaliser after 55 minutes.

In the immediate aftermath of the goal, tempers started to become a little frayed, and a foul on Halion seem to be the jolt Malvern needed to get their game back together as in the final 25 minutes they upped their performance to the levels they have been reaching in recent weeks.

It was the powerful Willetts who set up Malvern's third goal when he brushed aside two challenges to slip the ball to Cox, who in turn slipped it past the helpless Hollingshead to put his side in front.

In the 70th minute, winger Nathan Owen replaced the tiring Willetts and added fresh momentum to Town's attacking play. When Roberts slid the ball across the Ledbury six yard line in the 77th minute, a jubilant Owen was on hand to convert the simplest of chances

The scoring wasn't over yet and with the Ledbury defence now in disarray, Roberts' far post cross was met by the outstanding Halion, who headed home at the far post for his second and Malvern's fifth goal of the night.

Malvern almost grabbed a sixth goal in the final minute, when a well worked move involving Roberts and substitute Richard Jones, saw the latter's shot brilliantly turned away by Hollingshead.

At the end of a pulsating encounter Town boss Neil Hunt said: "I think this was one of those games where the result was more important than the performance. We started and finished the game very well, but in between times Ledbury caused us a number of problems

"Our strength is that we always look likely to score and once the front three start firing they will cause problems for any side."

Reserves and youth

THE Town Reserves, out of action for the last two weeks, return to West Midlands League Division One (South) action tomorrow (Saturday) when they entertain Leominster Town (2.45pm).

The U18s scheduled Midland Youth League fixture at Cinderford on Wednesday was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch

The Town youngsters are next in action this Tuesday (January 27), when they entertain Castle Vale in a league fixture (7.45pm).