MALVERN Town U16s started their new season in the Mercian Festival Junior League with a challenging home fixture against Bredon Colts U16s.

MALVERN TOWN U16s 3, BREDON COLTS U16s 2

Bredon started lively with two goals in the first five minutes and kept the pressure up for most of the half. On the 17th minute Chris Wynne headed wide from a Josh Brentnall free-kick for Malvern and on 24 minutes Ricky Buckland raced down half the pitch only to shoot over. An Ollie Mason free-kick was saved and Dan Harris pulled off some good saves for Malvern. On 34 minutes, following a Bredon player being sent off, Malvern were awarded a penalty-kick which had to be taken twice and on both occasions was well saved by the goalkeeper Matt Wilkes.

The second-half started with ten-man Bredon initially having the upper hand but on 47 minutes a good pass from Kurt Doyle found Ricky Buckland, who fired home to make it 1-2. Both teams battled hard, Bredon hit the side-netting and both Ricky Buckland and Paul Jordan just shot wide, but on 78 minutes Malvern were awarded a corner kick which found Paul Jordan in the box to level at 2-2. The last few minutes were played out with determination from both sides but it was Malvern's Matt Hutchinson who came on to score in the dying seconds making the final score 3-2.

Malvern Town U16s are sponsored by Gas Appliance Showrooms Ltd of Malvern.

NEWTOWN SPORTS JUNIORS COLTS 7,

WELLAND JUNIORS U15s 0

NEWTOWN Sports Juniors Colts U15s started off the new campaign with a comfortable victory over a hard-working Welland team.

Allison got the home team off to a great start with a quick brace, which was quickly followed by Hale also with a brace, one of which was from the spot. Edwards, Allison, Jaye, Powell and Newell enjoyed plenty of possession in midfield, while Crane was unlucky not to find the net. Budd and Morse made their debuts for the team, and Newell completed the first-half scoring when he bundled in an excellent cross from Edwards.

Elmes and Buckle came on at half-time and with so many changes the Colts lost their shape, so Johnson had to pull off a smart save to prevent Welland from getting into the match. Roskams, White and Scullion restored some stability which allowed Edwards and Morse to add to the tally.

HARVINGTON U13s 5,

NEWTOWN SPORTS JUNIORS U13s 6

AN 11-goal thriller saw last year's champions defeat the runners-up with Callum Rock scoring the winner deep into injury time.

The Juniors opened strongly creating chances and Turner made no mistake from close in. From the kick-off Harvington equalised following a spill from Freeman allowing an easy tap-in. Watling then fired his side in front once more, only for Harvington to be back on terms within 30 seconds. Watling scored with a vicious cross shot and then Rock's strength saw him brush aside challenges and net just on half-time.

A fifth soon after restart, when Rock raced clear seemed to have put the Juniors well on their way. Uncharacteristic errors at the back allowed Harvington back into the game and when the fourth went in it was all hands to the pumps. A kind break of the ball in the last minute allowed Rouse to fire home the equaliser to send the home supporters wild. Deep into stoppage time Rock battled to win the ball and then fired goalwards, the ball eluded everyone to nestle in the net giving the Juniors a winning start to this season.

Man of the match was Callum Rock.

LYPPARD RANGERS U11s 0,

NEWTOWN SPORTS JUNIORS U11s 2

THIS Mercian Festival League game saw Lyppard have a lot of possession but with Tom Busher playing well in defence and James cooper making an excellent save just before half-time there was no score at the break.

Half-way through the second-half Newtown took the lead when Jake Hooper scored with an unstoppable shot from outside the area. Jack Davies scored Juniors' second after an excellent run.

Man-of-the-match was Jake Hooper. Newtown U11s are sponsored by Century 2000.

LEIGH & BRANSFORD BADGERS U10s 2, LYPPARD RANGERS PUMAS U10s 4

THE Badgers made a good start to the season despite losing to the Pumas.

The early possession was dominated by the Badgers, creating several chances which they were unable to convert. At the other end Fred Van Vuren and Oliver Harcombe kept out any advances made by the Pumas. William struck the opening goal, after 10 minutes, with a superbly struck volley from the edge of the area. The Pumas equalised on the stroke of half time when the Badgers failed to clear and the Pumas striker poked the ball home.

In the second half, the Pumas started better and opened up a two goal lead. It was not until this point that the Badgers got going. Eventually Daniel Roberts broke through and smashed the ball into the top corner of the goal. The Badgers continued to pressurise the Pumas goal with Daniel Roberts hitting the bar. As the Badgers pressed for the equaliser the Pumas broke away and added a fourth goal to their tally. The Badgers preformed really well for an opening fixture which include a good debut performance from Finley Gill.

Performance of the week was by Fred Van Vuren.