MALVERN and Dunstablians gave the large Spring Lane crowd plenty of entertainment as both sides tried to consolidate positions of mid-table safety in Midlands One.

MALVERN 29pts, DUNSTABLIANS 39pts

The home side started positively, penning the Bedfordshire side in their own half, Andy Longley's boot finding long-range touch to set up forward drives. On the ten minute mark, the Malvern skipper obliged with a penalty to 15 metres out, the line out was won and inside centre John Martin slotted over a drop kick to open the scoring.

Five minutes later, Paul Hart broke and Longley put in a grubber kick to the five metre line. Malvern won a scrum and Ben Hughes cut inside from his wing to bounce off two defenders to score, Longley converting

Dunstablians pulled back three points with a penalty from the restart by stand off John White but Malvern continued to take the game to the visitors. Hughes and Longley were both narrowly denied scoring opportunities to put Malvern further ahead and Malvern were then forced on to the back foot as the mobile Dunstablians pack raised their game.

From a catch and drive hooker Stef Myburgh grounded the ball, then two minutes later the Malvern defence were caught napping as winger Duncan Holmes went through to score. On the stroke of half time the Malvern defence was again found wanting as centre Marcus Hvass sped in to set up White's conversion kick.

After the break Dunstablians' purple patch continued as inside centre Rick Butler scored, White again claiming the extra two points and Malvern were 17 points down. Gareth Richards came on to tighten up the defence and made an immediate impact with some attacking runs as well.

Coach Rudy Smith's wake-up call galvanised the home forwards, who decided to play it safe and simple, driving up "Route One" with a fine display of ball retention 10 minutes in to the half, Hart, Shaun Lancett and Steve Cooper taking on the Dunstablians defence with flankers Steve Tatlor and Ollie Banwell sniping round the fringes. Hooker Darren Handy, Malvern's man of the match, finished the move off with an unstoppable charge and Longley converted.

Malvern's fightback continued, Rob Young putting in an electrifying burst despite carrying an ankle injury, and Jon Owen and Matt Williams cleaned up in the line-out. Full back Richard Fleming put in some good yardage from full back to link up with the forwards and the pressure finally told when the ball was swept out to Hughes for his second score.

With 10 minutes left, Malvern drove back the Dunstable forwards for Ollie Banwell to ground the ball, Longley's conversion reclaiming the lead. Dunstablians responded immediately, and drove over for scrum half Geoff Goss to snatch the lead back. As Malvern put in a desperate last ditch effort, the left winger deliberately knocked on a pass which would have left Hughes a clear run-in, but instead of a penalty try, the otherwise excellent referee only awarded a kick which narrowly missed, then Dunstablians broke away to seal the match with a converted try from full back Billy Hodges.

David Robins, Malvern Director of Rugby, wasn't too despondent after the match. "We saw a marvelous display of open, running rugby this afternoon. Inevitably their were errors on both sides, but the spirit in which the game was played does both clubs credit. We could argue that a wrong decision cost us the match, but that's rugby.

"Having taken control early on, we sat back and Dunstablians ran through us either side of the break. The lads did well to pick their game up and the result was a humdinger of a game."