AGAINST a Droitwich side which bore little resemblance to that which Rangers drew with 1-1 back in September they had considerable difficulty in overcoming them to maintain their recent sequence of results which has seen them undefeated since losing 2-1 to Perrywood on the February 10.

MALVERN RANGERS 1, DROITWICH SPA 0

In the process they have conceded two goals in the 2-2 draw away at Martley.

On a very uneven pitch especially down the wings, which badly need a heavy roll, both sides struggled to perform to any degree in this Worcester League Saturday Premier Division and the game never rose to any great heights.

In the early stages of the game, Rob Perrins saw one good shot well saved by keeper Denby for a fruitless corner and another one straight at the keeper. After 15 minutes Droitwich had a good opportunity to score but a well struck shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide of Clive Churchill's far post.

In the opening minutes of the second half a comedy of errors almost saw Rangers take the lead. Rob Perrins was one on one with keeper Denby and when the ball ran loose to Marc Kitchener he struck the ball goalwards and one, two and even a third Droitwich player almost mis-kicked for what was eventually a fruitless corner.

Droitwich attacked down their left in the 15th minute and when Churchill parried the shot, the ball ran to the far post where there were two Droitwich players, no Rangers players and yet the ball was struck wide.

After 23 minutes Rangers eventually broke the deadlock. A driving run by Simon Rea at the heart of the Droitwich defence before passing to Chris Davis who interchanged passes with Rob Perrins before Davis struck a good right foot, yes right foot shot, into the corner of the goal from just inside the penalty area.

On 38 minutes David Beats ran strongly at the Droitwich defence only to be confronted by the burly body of keeper Denby on the edge of the box and in trying to lob him only succeeded in hitting the ball straight at him.

Within the last five minutes Droitwich could so easily have forced an equaliser from two corners.

A hard earned three points from a disappointing game and performance.

The joint Men of the Match were Sean Lynch and Mark White.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Rangers are due to travel to Worcester to play All Blacks at the Kings School athletics track for a Premier Division fixture and because Rangers have organised a trip to Hall Green dog racing in the evening the kick off has been agreed for 2-15pm.

Players to meet at Brooklyn Motors at 1pm, or at the ground at 1.30pm at the latest.