MALVERN Town picked up their second Express and Star West Midlands League Premier Division win of the season, when a good all round performance saw them overcome Tividale 3-1 at Langland Stadium on Saturday.

MALVERN TOWN 3, TIVIDALE 1

It was Malvern who made most of the early running, with Dean Roberts, Des Cox and Lee Goodman prominent in most of their early attacking play, and all of these three went close to giving Town the lead.

It was Cox who eventually got the first goal in the 20th minute when the ball fell to him on the edge of the box the Town striker made no mistake from close range.

Tividale also had their moments, but the Town defence, again superbly marshalled by captain Craig Williams, were not seriously troubled and restricted the visitors to speculative long range efforts.

Town's second goal came in the 37th minute, when Dean Roberts powered his way past the last defender and was fouled as he moved in on goal. The resultant penalty was this time refused by Roberts who had missed a crucial spot kick at Gornal last week, and it was left to Cox to do the honours, as he slotted the ball home for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season.

The second half saw Tividale come much more into the picture, and during the opening 15 minutes they put Town under a good deal of pressure.

Following a succession of corners, the ball was volleyed just inside Dave Alden's left hand post, to pull a goal back for the visitors with 30 minutes still to play.

Ironically though, this was the last major threat from Tividale, as Town got back into their stride and both Roberts, Cox and Adam Ward all might have increased their lead.

But it was left to the tireless Nathan Owen to secure his side the points, when an seemingly innocuous 78th minute cross was knocked into the box.

Whilst the Tividale keeper and centre half hesitated as to who was going to deal with it, Owen outjumped the visiting keeper, to head into an unguarded net.

This was the last real meaningful action in a game that Town deserved to win and despite their inconsistent league form, have now only been beaten once in their last eight outings.