MALVERN U17 Pirates suffered a major set-back in their bid for a place in the North Midlands U17 Premier League in the New Year after they were soundly beaten by Worcester in the NM U17 League (Southern Division) on Sunday.

After containing Worcester to a 17-5 lead at the half-time, with Chris Reed, Malvern's man-of-the-match, scoring the only points for the visitors, Malvern failed to maintain a firm grip on the match. They rarely made any in-roads into the Worcester 22 in the second-half.

This resulted in four unconverted tries for Worcester to give them a 37-5 win to guarantee the division winner's status, with five matches remaining; three of them at Sixways.

The pivotal point of the match from Malvern's perspective was the latter part of the first-half leading up to Chris Reed's try. Finding no way through or round the Worcester defence, the Malvern bench insisted the team should begin to play percentage rugby with 'Garry Owen's' and long-range kicks into the Worcester 22.

This immediately paid dividends and Worcester were under pressure and in some confusion about how to counter the new threat. Malvern's set-piece play was dominant at this stage and with Stefan Milosavjlevich and Reed disrupting the Worcester throws, Malvern edged ever closer to the Worcester line for Chris Reed to score his try.

However, with Worcester rattled and seemingly unable at that point to react to the threat and to the dismay of the Malvern bench, the visitors inexplicitly reverted back to playing expansive rugby and with the threat diminished, Worcester rallied and again reasserted their authority.

Gary Tolley, the Pirates' coach, was clearly disappointed and frustrated with his team's performance. He said "This was an ideal opportunity to stamp some authority on our standing in this division and we blew it because of our poor decision making and communication at a critical point of the match.

"The 32 unanswered points that Worcester scored against us will be crucial and with Ludlow breathing down our necks after beating Hereford 31-0, we need to win all our four remaining matches quite handsomely to take the division's runner-up spot and automatic qualification into the North Midlands U17 Premier League."

The Pirates next game will be a local derby against Ledbury U17s at Spring Lane next Sunday, November 6. Kick-off is scheduled for noon.