MALVERN lost this crucial Midlands One relegation battle after a last minute penalty from Bromsgrove's prolific kicker Matt Birch.

BROMSGROVE 25pts, MALVERN 24pts

The game was played in an atmosphere so tense that it often spilled over into fisticuffs, but Malvern had the best of the exchanges for long periods.

Birch had put the Finstall park side ahead in the second minute with a penalty after a powerful forward drive had taken them deep into Malvern territory, but full back Andy Longley levelled the scores three minutes later.

With Longley keeping Bromsgrove penned back in their own half and Vince Hill and Chris Smith dominating the line out, the Malvern forwards began to take the upper hand. A penalty resulted in a line out 20 metres from the Bromsgrove line, the Malvern pack drove forward and the ball was whipped back to Longley, whose dropped goal gave Malvern the lead in the 13th minute.

Winning the restart, Gareth Richards and Rob Young made headway, then Sam Hardcastle made a penetrating run, but Bromsgrove were awarded a free kick and stretched the Malvern defence, Fellows going over in the corner in the 20th minute.

Malvern retook the lead four minutes later after standoff Dave King had made a break almost to the line and was tackled high. Longley put over the penalty and Malvern took the upper hand for the rest of the half.

Bromsgrove came out for the second half with renewed vigour and a hoisted up and under put Malvern under pressure. Although the referee failed to spot a knock on, centre Ben Eason gathered to score for the home side, Birch's conversion putting the home side 15-9 ahead.

Malvern picked up their game, the pack dominating and taking play deep into the home half and winning a penalty, which Longley put into touch. The forwards gathered, the ball was passed out to centre Mark Eastwood and he powered through for a 52nd minute score, bringing Malvern to within a point of Bromsgrove's total. The Bromsgrove pack resorted to stamping in the ruck, which saw a player sin-binned, but after a torrid five minutes Malvern had prop James Daniell yellow-carded for the first time in his career for 'raising his leg'.

Replacement Marc Gaubert joined Daniell at the same time for a retaliatory punch on a Bromsgrove player who was busy making free with his fists.

With two men off, things looked black for Malvern, but they held their own and attacked Bromsgrove with vigour. Moving the ball quickly, Eastwood broke through to put Sam Hardcastle on an unstoppable run in to score in the corner (70 minutes), then five minutes later Eastwood repeated the feat to put in Andy Longley and suddenly Malvern were in the driving seat, nine points ahead.

The home side did not give up and some loose tackling allowed second row John Taylor in for a soft try at the end of normal time which Birch converted to take them only two points behind.

With five minutes of injury time to play Bromsgrove came straight back downfield, won the fateful penalty and the referee immediately blew for time, three minutes early, leaving Malvern on the brink of relegation.