IT was jubilation followed by heartbreak in a few tumultuous days for Malvern Town FC 25 years ago this week.

On the Saturday, Town had successfully held Worcester City to a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup qualifying round, but lost 2-0 in the replay at Langland stadium the following Tuesday.

In the first fixture, at Worcester's St George's Lane, Malvern were unlucky not to have won outright.

With the score standing level towards the end of the match, Malvern's Billy Pace nearly scored in the 76th minute, and again in injury time.

On the Tuesday, Malvern continued to make their presence felt, but conceded the first goal in the 29th minute.

Just two minutes into the second half, Malvern's Bobby Ingram was taken off injured and, because a substitution had already been made, they had to soldier on with ten men. City clinched their victory with just four minutes to go.

Club president Trevor Guiver said: "To play three hours of football against Worcester City and absorb anything they could throw at us and only lose by a couple of goals is a fantastic achievement.

"Considering we played for nearly 45 minutes with ten men we had nothing to be ashamed of in defeat. Personally, I couldn't be more proud than if we had won the cup."

The consolation for Town was a crowd of 1,221, the largest seen at Langland stadium since the heady days of the late 1950s, when the club enjoyed successful runs in the FA Amateur Cup.