THIS match, between the two bottom sides in Midlands One, was a 'four-pointer', each team desperate not to be cut adrift from the pack.

CAMP HILL 5pts, MALVERN 39pts

Malvern began with purpose, Sean Lancett making his presence felt on his league debut. After the initial testing-out period, Malvern went on the attack, winning a scrum, Blakeway switched play to the narrow side, Longley joined the line and flipped the ball inside for lock forward Jon Owen to score with a celebratory dive.

With their tails up, Malvern showed all the signs of going on the rampage, led by the omnipresent Steve Taylor, who put in another excellent performance along with back row colleagues Garner and Ridley. Duncan Short, playing against his old club, was relishing the fray whilst Owen tussled all afternoon in the line-out against former Malvernian Chris Smith.

After the early exchanges, however, Malvern let Camp Hill back into the game, conceding ground through three penalties. A pinpoint crossfield kick found winger Richard Roberts who ran in past the stretched Malvern defence to score.

Some over-enthusiastic Malvern play at the ruck saw Dave Irish sin-binned for 10 minutes, but stout defence meant that Camp Hill were unable to make the extra man advantage count. Play became scrappy, not helped by the referee who took exception to some touchline advice and showed the red card to a Malvern supporter!

Longley kept the home team pegged back with some fine long-range kicking and put over a penalty just before the break.

A half-time pep talk spurred Malvern and from the kick off they went marauding down the slope, Fleming making an incisive run, Taylor bulldozing through to feed prop Steve Cooper for a try, Longley converting.

From the restart, Longley punted the ball to within 15 metres of the Camp Hill line, Owen stole the ball and Blakeway drifted through the defence to score and set up Longley's extra two points.

Some ugly off the ball incidents then came to the fore but the visitors kept their cool as they refused to release their stranglehold on the game.

From a 5 metre scrum, the ball was whipped across field for Beech to score, then Richards broke through a tiring defence. With Malvern now playing at their best, Jenkin capped the day's events with a fine effort in the last minute, Longley's conversion finishing off the scoring.

David Robins, Malvern director of rugby, was delighted with the second half performance.

He said: "Having lost our shape after a promising start, we played at their level in the first half. However, we came out with all guns blazing after the restart and the two points helps us to get a bit closer to the main pack.

"With some strange results, it's evident that every side in this league is beatable - we have to work on our consistency to climb to the top half of the table. Steve Taylor was excellent today, whilst Sean Lancett put in an accomplished performance. Vince Hill came through his appearance from the bench after injury and it's now total focus on Kenilworth, who crushed Longton today."

Malvern host Kenilworth tomorrow (Saturday), kick-off 2.30pm, and then on November 24 are due to visit Selly Oak in a friendly.