MALVERN Rugby Club fans are asking what has gone wrong after losing 36-13 at Spalding in Midlands One, their fourth reverse on the run.

The answer would appear to lie in the back division, once Malvern's strength, which shipped in tries to a Spalding side who look a rejuvenated outfit since their 35-0 rev-erse earlier in the season.

With several regulars already unavailable, five late call-offs saw very much a second-string back division take the field against the Fenland side.

The home side ran in three converted tries in the first quarter of an hour. Although the Malvern pack more than held its own, the Spalding team realised early on that Malvern were, as so often this season, vulnerable in midfield and exploited the weakness to the full.

The home side added another try in the 25th minute before Malvern started playing with a bit more belief and a Richard Fleming pen-alty on the half hour got them on the scoreboard. Ben Hughes then made a dazzling run to set up a Dave Beech try and Fleming put over another penalty on the stroke of half time.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half the Malvern pack dominated, Chris Smith impressive in the line-out and Andy Ridley making good yardage at number eight.

However, the pivotal point came when a Ridley 'try' was disallowed and Spalding scored a breakaway try to stretch the lead, then signed off by carving through the poor Malvern defence for a final score.