MALVERN Athletic Football Club completed their pre-season matches last Saturday with a 5-3 defeat at Ledbury Town.

The home side had the better of the opening 10 minutes although Athletic could have taken the lead on two occasions with efforts from Rob Perrins and Simon Brookes both off target before Ledbury took the lead with a fine turn and volley from Colwell.

The home side increased their lead with another fine overhead kick and then Athletic suffered another blow when Cyril Dowling hobbled off the pitch after a late tackle. With the visitors still trying to arrange their formation, Ledbury netted a third through Colwell.

Athletic then came more into the game and were awarded a penalty after the Ledbury centre-half had handled the ball on the line. Rob Perrins fired the spot kick home.

The second half saw Athletic kicking up the slope and their performance looked much improved with Richard Brookes linking up well with the attack on the left flank with his brother Simon in attack.

Rob Perrins found the back of the net mid-way through the second half, when he ran through beating the off-side trap to reduce the arrears. Ledbury hit back with a fourth before Perrins completed his hat-trick after a good move with Simon Brookes.

Just before the final whistle Ledbury netted a fifth with a spectacular overhead kick from a corner.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Malvern Athletic commence their Midland Combination Division Two programme with an away game against Leamington Hibernian at Racing Club, Warwick's ground, 2.45pm.

Manager, Phil Llewellyn hopes to have secured the signature of ex-Evesham and Malvern Town defender, Nigel Russell, who had a run out against Ledbury last week.

The other position he is struggling to fill is as goal keeper and is hoping to make a late signing in this position. The squad will also be short of defender Marc Lines.

Squad: Simon Brookes, Richard Brookes, Hall, Dowling, Cornes, Allen, Winfield, Owen, Thomas, Boocock, Perrins, Penny, Russell, Llewellyn.

Athletic play their second match on Tuesday when they travel to take on Droitwich Spa at King George V Playing Fields with a 6.15pm kick off.