MALVERN Men's hockey team welcomed Kingswinford for their second game of the new Coaching Solutions league season.

MALVERN 2, KINGSWINFORD 10

Malvern have seen nearly half their regular 1st team squad depart to various Universities, so a new look Malvern took to the field.

Malvern started extremely well, not allowing the opposition to settle. They were rewarded when a lovely cross from Mike Braim found Richard Simmonds who neatly deflected the ball to Ben Mawby, who forced the ball over the line to score from close range.

Unfortunately, the lead was short lived. Kingswinford pressed forward and scored almost immediately. Half-time found Malvern 5-1 down.

The second half saw more goals for Kingswinford, but Malvern heads never dropped.

The last 20 minutes were more competitive for Malvern, with the whole team pressing forward as a unit.

Malvern scored their second goal towards the end of the game when Mike Braim passed to Tristan and on to Joe Smith and into the D for Brian Crump to flick the ball passed the keeper from a narrow angle.

Malvern can take many positives from the game. Firstly, the performance of Chris Hepinstall who continued to play on with a face injury and secondly, the spirit of the whole squad who played as a team in appalling conditions against a better side who scored at regular intervals.