MALVERN Town suffered a controversial last gasp defeat at Lye Town, in the Express and Star West Midlands League Premier Division on Wednesday night.

LYE TOWN 2, MALVERN TOWN 1

With the score at 1-1 and with just 19 seconds left on the clock, Lye forced a corner, the ball was only half cleared by Town, but as a cross was played back in, Town pushed up and the linesman flagged for an offside.

He then subsequently put his flag down, only for a home player in an onside position to stroke the ball past Melvyn Watson for a hugely debated winning goal.

But Town had had enough chances to have put the game beyond doubt.

In a first half they largely controlled the play and Lee Goodman and Des Cox were both denied by fine saves from the home goalkeeper during the opening 15 minutes. Dave Cannon suffered the same fate after 25 minutes.

Mark Johnson then saw a fierce drive deflect narrowly over the bar for a corner. Rik Halion eventually secured Town's deserved lead after 30 minutes, with an excellent, curling, left foot shot from the edge of the box, having been set up by Luke Willetts.

The second period saw Town slow to start and Lye took full advantage in the 53rd minute, when slack marking at a corner, enabled a Lye defender to head past Watson.

Town managed to exert themselves once more and Goodman, Cox and Cannon again threatened the Lye goal, whilst Nathan Owen spurned a good opportunity to restore Town's lead.

Town only really had themselves to blame when in the 87th minute, Cox broke free and although the Town striker delayed his shot, he still thought he had done enough, only to see his effort come back off an upright. The rebound fell to Willetts, but with the goal at his mercy, he fired wide.

This was a crucial miss, as less than three minutes later, Lye exacted a finite, if somewhat controversial response.

Town have a local derby this weekend, when they visit Ledbury in the Express and Star West Midlands League Premier Division, and will be looking for a good result if they are to keep alive their hopes of a top five finish.

Town boss Neil Hunt said: "Wednesday's result at Lye was very disappointing, and although we felt that their winning goal should never have stood, we had enough chances to have finished the game off.

"Also we are struggling with injuries at present, but we have still got good results recently against decent sides. In fact Lye had only been beaten once in their previous 19 games, and that against Westfields, so the players that have come in have done a good job."

For Saturday's game Town are still likely to be without their longer term injury victims, a situation not helped by a freak workplace accident to Lee Hooper, which ruled him out of Wednesday's game and almost certainly the Ledbury match.

Pete Rose returns though.

For Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday's trip to Heath Hayes (3pm), Hunt will select from Watson, Thomas (S), Cannon, Chalmers, Clayton, Thomas (J), Cole, Goodman, Halion, Rose, Johnson, Owen, Smith, Cox, Willetts, Hooper and Taylor.

Town's final League match of the season is next Thursday (May 8), when they visit Tividale-based Dudley Town (7.45).

Reserves through to semi-final

MALVERN Town Reserves' West Midland League Supplementary Cup semi-final first leg against Wyre Forest Brintons, which was scheduled for the Langland Stadium tomorrow (Saturday), is now being played at Wyre Forest (2pm).

The second leg will be played at the Langland Stadium next Wednesday (7.45pm).

The Reserves reached the semi- final, courtesy of an exciting penalty shoot out success at home to Bridgnorth Reserves last Thursday.

Goalkeeper Steve Thomas was the Town hero, saving three times from the spot.

Last Saturday, the Town Reserves, fielding a very inexperienced side, went down 5-1 at home to their Bustlehome counterparts in a league fixture.